The Long Distance Caravan Trade in East Africa

Abstract

Trade in East Africa is the so called “the long distance caravan trade”. It is different from the caravan trade of other areas; the Sahara, Arabia peninsular, Middle East, etc., because of the means of transportation. The transportation in East Africa depends on manpower, because the existence of tsetse flies prevents the use of animals for transportation. For this reason the trade caravan consisted of many thousands of people. The caravan trade was mainly for ivory. At first slavery was not the main item, but later it became a major item of the trade. The caravan trade had been started by African peoples, the Yao, Nyamweji, Kamba, about the first decade of the 19th century. They extended trade routes upcountry. Then Arab and Swahili caravan traders came into the scene in the third or fourth decades of the 19th century. The organization of the caravan trade came to need so much money, only Indian merchants were soon able to provide enough money for large caravans at that time. In the latter half of the 19th century the caravan trade became international. African, Arab, Swahili, and Indian traders took part in these caravans. Africans were mainly porters, Indians were financiers, Arab and Swahili traders were organizers and conducters. It could be said that the real owners of the trade caravans were Indian merchants. The significance of the caravan trade in the 19th century is that the first direct trade between the East African coast and the inland, which had no contact with each other before the 19th century, started. The inland regions were strongly influenced, e.g., the introduction of guns, the appearance of the Arab Settlements, the extention of Swahili language, the slave trade, the appearance of powerful African chiefs like Mirambo, Arab trade kingdoms like Tippu Tip ruling territories, and so on. As for the slave trade, since ancient times many African slaves were sent to Arabia, India, China, and other places. There is a record of a slave who came to Japan in the 16th century. It must be noted that the caravan trade in East Africa was one of the first movements to connect the East African coast with the inland regions, and brought an international economic element into the inland countries.