Early european trade among the South African Bantu, and some social consequences of it

Bertra1n Hutcl1inson( C c r1tro i3 r asd e iro d e P e squis a s Ec u c3 c iona is ) ' slowly, and eighteen years later, in 1848, there were only 38 of them in British Kaffrari2, together w~th a few more who had pushed on into , Natal. 2 Few in numbers though they were, the volume of tra , d'. e with th e Bantu people for which the traders were responsible grew ste2dily.By 1834 the value c. f :trade on the eastern frontier approacl1ed cf:40,000 • sterling per year 3 • Between 1799 ' and 1827 the export of hides from .Cape Town increased from 2,500 to 75,000 annuaII!y, 2nd the export . of horn and ivory rose correspondingly.ln 1828, the weekly fair at Grahamstown had .brought about the barter of 3,380 pc .und • s of beads;, .46,373 dozen buttons, 3,249 pounds of brass wire (together with an indefinite number of knive ~, axes and tinder boxes ), for 2,218 pounds of rvory, 20,572 hides and 78 cattle 4 • The vigorous activity of this fair is well described by a missionary who visited it at this time: ''Dt11-i11g tl1e 11101•11ir1g'' , l1e ,, ,rites, ''I ,vitncssecl ... tl1e Cé1ffre Fai1•, a 111arl{ et l1e lcl \Veekly for }Jarter \Vitl1 tl1e nati, ,e s.Nearly a tl1ousa11cl \\'CI' C IJl'CSe11t. rl'l1e C()]llJll()(lities ])l'()ltgl1t by tl1e111 \".'C re , 1 a1•ic>tlS; f notic e r l)Cêl • stati<J 11s, a rrJr1r1cl \\ ' l1ic•l1 el<1tl1es ri .rcgc~11rrall}' estce111e(l ~111cl sot1gl1t c1ftc •r''.i .l\1eanw hile, on the.eastern frontier trade was beginning to invol \'e many more u til itarian articles.The Bantu people in increasing numbers .were seel cing such things a s spades, hoes, blankets, tobacco, sugar, rice

Bantu languages · Ethnology · Geography · Linguistics · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History