Mande Kola Traders of Nortwestern Sierra Leone, Late 1700s to 1930

MANDE KOLA TRADERS OF NORTWESTERN SIERRA LEONE, LATE 1700s TO 1930 Allen M. Howard Mande-speakerskolasinceofatnorthwesternleasthavetheproduced,1500sSierraandLeonemediated,probablyandneighboringtransported,earlier.ThatpartsandregiontradedofGuineawasthe Mande-speakers kola of northwestern Sierra Leone and neighboring parts of Guinea since at least the 1500s and probably earlier. That region was particularly important in the commercial history of West African kola because for several centuries it supplied a large area of Senegambia and the Upper Niger through two different routes: north up the Atlantic coast and eastward into the interior. Nigeria also was a major market for several decades beginning in the later 19th century.1 As fitting with the image of long-distance juula , Mande always were most prominent in the overland trade, but they also contributed to the seaborne trade, particularly as suppliers who served exporters.2 Several major themes emerge from the overview presented here, which concentrates on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. First, a very diverse body of people participated in the kola trade from coastal Sierra Leone and Guinea, including various Mandespeaking peoples of different origins and many non-Mande. Second, historically, no single "ethnic group," Mande-speaking or other, dominated the overland trade, although some communities or networks of traders gained control of particular territorial segments for limited periods of time. Third, certain socialcommercial practices long established among Mande were also widely shared among non-Mande Africans, including Krio, Eurafricans, and Europeans. Among those practices that most facilitated the kola trade was the landlordstranger institution. Fourth, Mande-speakers had an important role in developing new spatial patterns of kola trading in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as European imperialism and colonial rule were fragmenting existing commercial networks. Finally, in the period around the First World War, when Krio and then Lebanese gained dominance of overseas exporting, Mandespeakers continued to supply exporters and were leaders in re-shaping overland traffic. All in all, the importance of Mande in the kola trade stemmed to a great degree from their ability to form networks and alliances with Mande of different backgrounds and with non-Mande, as well as from their spatial, social, and commercial adaptability. In the literature on West African commerce, control of particular sectors of trade often has been associated with ethnic formations, exclusive cultural practices, and identity markers. Paul Lovejoy (1973), Abner Cohen (1969) and others have demonstrated that in certain historical situations, "ethnic" communities developed dominance over trade in such commodities as cattle and kola. In some instances, such communities had porous boundaries and were fluid in composition, which meant that people could flow into them, but in other cases Mande Studies 9 (2007), pp. 83- 1 02 8 4 Allen M. Howard they were more sealed and exclusionary. I neighboring parts of Guinea, over the p some examples of "ethnic" domination of hold that those identified as Fula gained of the 20th century, as shown by Alusin however, commerce in the area has be diverse languages and cultural practices. I from the same area of the interior and sh often formed cohesive networks that particular segments of the trade for a pe cut across particular Mande identities to Mande to non-Mande. In fact, the ko linkages, partly because of the history "ethnic" communities typically were dive traders of different languages, and comm were widely shared. Mande speakers and the trade demonstrated commercial ad alliances. Such spatial entrepreneurship, the later 19th and early 20th centurie demand, European imperial expansion, n other structural factors. By the First Wo organized the overseas kola business. provided Lebanese an opportunity to take within a relatively short period of time. Because kola production is now asso Nigeria, the importance of the northwest however, Sierra Leone and neighboring p suppliers of kola nitida ? The trade grew su more in the 20th, along with the expansi peanuts, palm, and other commodities, w number of consumers. The volume and their high point in the 1920s. Seaborn Gambia, and Nigeria, had a value in 1920 more than 25% of Sierra Leone's total Sierra Leone shipped a mountainous 4462 also was substantial. Historically, the richest kola producing area lay in what is now northwestern Sierra Leone and adjoining areas of Guinea, most particularly in the area

Ethnology · Geography · Sierra leone · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History

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