The Ivory Trade and Political Power in Nineteenth-Century East Africa

Contenu

Titre

The Ivory Trade and Political Power in Nineteenth-Century East Africa

Auteur

Gooding, Philip

Date

2020

Dans

Animal Trade Histories in the Indian Ocean World

Résumé

This chapter analyses ivory consumption and trade in the context of shifting political power in nineteenth-century East Africa. It firstly describes how increased demand for ivory and ivory products in the wider Indian Ocean World, Europe, and North America contributed to a decline in ivory’s ownership, usage, and display in East Africa. It then examines the nature and construction of Omani and coastal East African communities in East Africa’s interior to show how political power became increasingly tied to access and control the ivory trade. In nineteenth-century East Africa, ivory was transformed from a product with significant symbolic capital to one whose history was increasingly shaped by capitalistic forces.

Editeur

Springer International Publishing

Place

Cham

Sujet

Commerce -- Zanzibar -- 19e siècle

Langue

eng

rédacteur

Chaiklin, Martha

Gooding, Philip

Campbell, Gwyn

pages

247-275

ISBN

978-3-030-42595-1

uri

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42595-1_9