THE ANCIENT AFRICAN TRADE

Trade has played an important role in the economy of Africa since very early times (Herodotus, c. 484-425 BC). The very earliest evidence of African trade is described by Herodotus who wrote of the trade across the Sahara; a trade recorded in rock paintings dating from 10,000 BC (Diop, 1987, p. 123). The rock paintings represent mules and horse-drawn wheeled carts that show that salt, ivory, animal skins, and slaves were the major items traded northwards while manufactured goods such as pottery, glass, and metalwork were traded southwards (Van Sertima, 1985, p. 145).

Notably, important civilizations were created, such as the Axum Empire located across what is today Ethiopia and Eritrea in an area where evidence of farming dates back 10,000 years (Munro-Hay, 1991, p. 45). The Axum Empire reached its apogee in the first century AD and was considered one of the four great powers of their time alongside China, Rome, and Persia (Munro-Hay, 1991, p. 50). Agriculture also boomed along the Nile Valley, and the Kingdom of Kush, just north of Khartoum, stood as a regional power in Africa for over a thousand years (Trigger, 1976, p. 102).

Historians are not sure of Punt's location, but the ancient Egyptians recorded that in around 2,500 BC, they traded huge caravans of ebony, gold, myrrh, and exotic animals with the Land of Punt, which was most probably a region of present-day Somalia on the Red Sea, perhaps extending into Ethiopia (Kitchen, 1993, p. 23). The pre-colonial era saw a number of powerful civilizations rise and fall in Africa, from Carthage in the north to Great Zimbabwe in the south, and in West Africa, the Songhai, Ghana, and Mali empires (Levtzion, 1973, p. 102). Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, accompanied by 80 to 100 camel loads of gold and a personal entourage numbering in the thousands, highlights the important role that Africa's gold had on world markets (Levtzion, 1973, p. 105).

References

Diop, C. A. (1987). Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books.

Van Sertima, I. (1985). African presence in early Asia. Transaction Publishers.

Munro-Hay, S. C. (1991). Aksum: An African civilisation of late antiquity. Edinburgh University Press.

Trigger, B. G. (1976). Nubia under the Pharaohs. Thames and Hudson.

Kitchen, K. A. (1993). The Land of Punt. Journal of African Studies, 20(1), 23-35.

Levtzion, N. (1973). Ancient Ghana and Mali. Methuen.

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