Lake Kivu Regional Trade in the nineteenth Century

AbstractThroughout Africa, contemporary boundaries are deemed ‘artificial’ because they were external impositions breaking apart supposedly homogeneous ethnic units. This article argues that the problem with the colonial borders was not only that they arbitrarily dissected African societies with European interests in mind, but also that they profoundly changed the way in which territoriality and authority functioned in this region, and therefore they affected identity. The presumption that territories could be constructed in which ‘culture’ and ‘political power’ neatly coincided was influenced by European ideas about space and identity, and privileged the perceptions and territorial claims of those ruling the most powerful centres in the nineteenth century. Thus, this article questions assumptions that continue to influence contemporary views of the Lake Kivu region. It shows that local understandings of the relationship between space and identity differed fundamentally from state-centred perspectives, whether in precolonial centralized states or colonial states.

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The growth of trade among the Igbo before 1880

The Journal of African History ◽

10.1017/s0021853700011439 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 217-236 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

David Northrup

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Slave Trade ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Economic Institutions ◽

Long Distance ◽

Regional Trade ◽

Early Date ◽

South Eastern ◽

Niger River ◽

Trading Networks

The peoples of south-eastern Nigeria have been involved in trade for as long as there are any records. The archaeological sites at Igbo-Ukwu and other evidence reveal long distance trade in metal and beads, as well as regional trade in salt, cloth, and beads at an early date. The lower Niger River and its Delta featured prominently in this early trade, and evidence is offered to suggest a continuity in the basic modes of trade on the lower Niger from c. A.D. 1500 to the mid-nineteenth century. An attempt to sketch the basic economic institutions of the Igbo hinterland before the height of the slave trade stresses regional trading networks in salt, cloth, and metal, the use of currencies, and a nexus of religious and economic institutions and persons. It is argued that while the growth of the slave trade appears to have been handled without major changes in the overall patterns of trade along the lower Niger, in the Igbo hinterland a new marketing ‘grid’, dominated by the Arochuku traders, was created using the pre-existent regional trading networks and religious values as a base.

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Exploiting International Webs of Relations: Immigrants and the Reopening of the Harbour of Antwerp on the Eve of the Nineteenth Century

Trade, Migration and Urban Networks in Port Cities, c. 1640-1940 ◽

10.5949/liverpool/9780973893489.003.0006 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 81-108

Author(s):

Hilde Greefs

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Foreign Trade ◽

Spatial Extent ◽

Maritime Trade ◽

Economic Interest ◽

Regional Trade ◽

Trade Networks ◽

Separate Spheres ◽

Business Elite ◽

Trading Activities

This chapter explores the question of which groups took advantage of and exercised dominance over the port of Antwerp when it reopened in the Nineteenth century. It discusses the development of maritime trade during the first half of the Nineteenth century and its appeal as a port town; the trading activities of the business elite - analysed through documents relating to port traffic; and the hierarchy of foreign trade networks operating around the port. Particular interest is given to the dominance of immigrant over native merchants in the fields of maritime trade and port activity. The conclusion suggests that the spatial extent of immigrant trade networks in particular enabled their success in international maritime trade. In response, native merchants strengthened links with national and regional trade, and the two groups managed to co-exist by concentrating on separate spheres of economic interest.

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