In classical and medieval Arabic sources, West African trade is most commonly associated with gold, which was exchanged along trans-Saharan routes that crisscrossed the desert in patterns later echoed by colonial “mine-to-coast” railways.
Fascinating how the ecological interdependence created these centuries-old networks way before external demand for gold even mattered. The part about how colonial borders turned cross-ecological trade into "smuggling" overnight is kinda heartbreaking when you think about how Dyula traders ended upwith scars from chasing bullets and thorns just to keep doing what their families had done for generations.
I believe Leo Africanus might have offered the first written description of kola, writing of a fruit "variety like chestnuts that grow on large trees. However, these are a little bitter and grow far inland from the [Niger] river; they are called goro in their language" ([1526]/2024 at 1.27(10)). Lewicki (1974) found no earlier reference in Arabic accounts, and if your sources haven't either, then ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan would still be the first.
I have found the reference made by Africanus in an older translation of his general description of Africa (although it's just one sentence), but I still can't find al-Umari's reference.
Al-'Umari's reference seems to be yet more abstract: you've seen Lovejoy (1980)'s brief quotation from Mauny (1961). Mauny's full quoted translation from al-'Umari is "des fruits sauvages semblables à tous ceux des arbres élevés dans les jardins, avec la variété de leurs espèces ; mais ils sont âcres, désagreables au goût et les Noirs seuls les mangent ; c'est la nourriture de la plupart d'entre eux." I don't have Mauny's bibliography, but this is from a 1927 selection from al-'Umari, in what language I know not; printed selections in Arabic, Romance, and Germanic languages proliferated in the colonial era. The first full modern Arabic edition of Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār dates to 1988f, but I don't have access to it.
If you have it, the relevant quote is most likely from al-'Umari's entry on Mali. Otherwise, if you have access to Mauny's bibliography, you could trace the quote that way. But I don't know if it's worth the candle to you.
I'm a heavy soda drinker and had heard of the kola nut, but the different spelling in English obscured the connection...
thank you, I learned something!
Fascinating how the ecological interdependence created these centuries-old networks way before external demand for gold even mattered. The part about how colonial borders turned cross-ecological trade into "smuggling" overnight is kinda heartbreaking when you think about how Dyula traders ended upwith scars from chasing bullets and thorns just to keep doing what their families had done for generations.
I believe Leo Africanus might have offered the first written description of kola, writing of a fruit "variety like chestnuts that grow on large trees. However, these are a little bitter and grow far inland from the [Niger] river; they are called goro in their language" ([1526]/2024 at 1.27(10)). Lewicki (1974) found no earlier reference in Arabic accounts, and if your sources haven't either, then ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan would still be the first.
I have found the reference made by Africanus in an older translation of his general description of Africa (although it's just one sentence), but I still can't find al-Umari's reference.
Al-'Umari's reference seems to be yet more abstract: you've seen Lovejoy (1980)'s brief quotation from Mauny (1961). Mauny's full quoted translation from al-'Umari is "des fruits sauvages semblables à tous ceux des arbres élevés dans les jardins, avec la variété de leurs espèces ; mais ils sont âcres, désagreables au goût et les Noirs seuls les mangent ; c'est la nourriture de la plupart d'entre eux." I don't have Mauny's bibliography, but this is from a 1927 selection from al-'Umari, in what language I know not; printed selections in Arabic, Romance, and Germanic languages proliferated in the colonial era. The first full modern Arabic edition of Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār dates to 1988f, but I don't have access to it.
If you have it, the relevant quote is most likely from al-'Umari's entry on Mali. Otherwise, if you have access to Mauny's bibliography, you could trace the quote that way. But I don't know if it's worth the candle to you.
I have Levitzon and Spaulding's English translation of al-Umari's description of Mali, but I couldn't find it there. (Medieval West Africa
Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants)
Thanks for publishing this highly informative and excellent article, I have learnt a lot from it 😃👍
Thank you too.
Isaac Samuel how can I learn about African history starting from prehistory to modern day ? I’m interested in this