History of Tanzania part ii; External contacts Coastal Trade through Indian Ocean

EARLY EXTERNAL CONTACTS
DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL TRADE LINK THROUGH THE INDIAN OCEAN UP TO THE 18TH CENTURY
• Trade links between the East African coast and the external world can be divided into two (2) major phases of historical development:
• Phase one
ü This phase covered the period between the 2nd century BC to 7th Century AD. The major feature of this period was lack of continuous and constant trade contacts on the coast (?)
ü This phase was dominated by traders from Rome and Greece empires who were in great demand for ivory as indicated in the Periplus of the Erythrean sea. These trading relations, however, were only confined to the Somalia coast .
• Continuation…….
ü Extension of these trading relations to Tanzanian coast was made by Arab traders during the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
ü It is believed that, by this time a big trading center known as Rhapta had been established along the Tanzanian coast, though the Periplus of the Erythrean sea failed to give the actual location of the this trading centre. During this period the demand for ivory had extended from Rome and Greece to India, China and Indonesia.
ü During the 7th century, increased demands for food grain and mangrove poles (which were used as building materials) in Arabia and slave labor in Iraq and Iran led to increased commercial activities along the coast.
ü During this period slaves were demanded in the Arabian world for several reasons such as military demands (served as soldiers), agricultural demands (to work in farms), salt production, domestic servants and women were used as concubines.
• Continuation….
ü During this period no permanent settlement (?) were established along the coast of Tanzania, though some Arab traders intermarried with local Africans of the coast. Such intermarriage marked the begging of the emergence and development (origin) of the Swahili people and their culture (language, religion, dressing, and values)

• Phase two
• The second phase lasted from the 8th to the 18th century AD. It was referred to as the period of the “rise, growth and consolidation of the East African coastal civilization”. This phase can be divided into four major stages
Ø The first stage covered the period from the 8th century to the 12th century. During this period most traders came from Oman and Persian empire.
ü It was during this period that the Arabs made their first attempt to establish permanent settlements along the Tanzanian coast including Zanzibar.
ü There was large migration of Arab traders mainly from Shiraz in Persia to the East Africa coast, especially during the 10th century AD. These traders were mainly attracted by gold which was mined in ancient Zimbabwe (Mwenemutapa empire) and began to be exported from Sofala coast through Kilwa to middle East by 10th century
• Continuation…….
Ø The second stage
This lasted from the 12th -15th century. It was referred to as the “height of coastal civilization” as there was rapid growth of coastal towns like Kilwa. Gold was still an important commodity.
ü Gold from the Great Zimbabwe (Mwenemutapa empire) was carried to Sofala from where it was shipped to Kilwa before being exported to the middle East and Persian countries.
ü Thus, Kilwa became an important center for gold trade along the East African coast resulting to its tremendous growth and prosperity. Beside Kilwa, other coastal towns (city states) which grew as a result of this coastal trade includes Zanzibar, Mombasa, Malindi, Mogadishu and Pate.

• Continuation…….
Ø The third stage constituted the Portuguese era and lasted from the 16th to 17th century. Portuguese interests along the East African coast was to gain control over the costal trade which was in the hands of the Oman Arabs and Persians. To achieve their goals they used the methods of warfare, raids, piracy and robbery.
• The Portuguese were forced to use force because they lacked sufficient capital to invest in commercial activities. This explains why the Portuguese built a series of military forts (garrisons) along the entire coast of Eastern Africa from Mogadishu in the north to Sofala in the south.
• The use of force adapted by the Portuguese to gain control over the coastal trade in East Africa had far reaching negative impacts on the prosperity of the coastal trade and the city states in general. How?
• Continuation…..
ü There was a diversion (change of direction) of the major trade routes especially those in connection to gold and copper. For example, gold was now shipped direct from Sofala southwards (instead of northward to Kilwa and then to middle East) to overseas (Europe). Thus, Kilwa lost much of its wealth and revenue as it was no longer an important center for gold trade.
ü There was a decline of the coastal city states like Kilwa as their prosperity depended on gold trade. These city states lost the basis of their economy where as the African and Arab traders who acted as middlemen lost their businesses.
ü In the mining areas (Mwenemutapa), strong conflict developed between African gold miners and Portuguese traders. The Portuguese traders wanted to control gold production, a situation which was highly resisted by African gold miners. The result of these bitter conflicts was a sharp decline in gold production and coastal trade in general.
• Continuation……
ü The Portuguese introduced trading licenses and permits on African and Arab traders. This was again highly resisted by the African and Arab traders culminating to further decline in trade along the East African Coast
ü The Portuguese were not interested in developing the coastal city states, but rather, they were interested in the wealth which was controlled by these city states. Thus, they left the towns to stagnate and decay.
Thus, the Portuguese period was a period of greater decline of the coastal city states and their economy which depended on gold trade.
Ø The fourth stage constituted the 18th century featured by the rise of the Oman empire on the East African coast.
ü The Oman Arabs in collaboration with the Swahili traders, began to challenge Portuguese dominance along the East African coast from mid 17th century.
• Continuation…..
ü The Arab-Swahili collaboration led to anti-Portuguese resistances. The final result of such resistances was the total expulsion of the Portuguese from the East African coast, especially after the decline of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1698.
ü Thus, throughout the 19th century, the Oman Arabs made several attempts to revive the East African coastal trade and to reconstruct the city states and their beautiful buildings which were greatly ravaged by the Portuguese activities.
• The rise of Seyyid Said to power in Oman in 1806
• Having defeated the Portuguese along the coast of East Africa at the end of the 17th century (1698), the Oman Arabs under their Imam (ruler) emerged as the new overlords of the East African coast and its adjacent islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, mafia, etc. Thus, the East African coast and its adjacent islands were ruled directly from Oman.
• As a result, the Oman ruler appointed Oman Arabs as governors to represent him in the coastal towns and the islands.
• However, political conflicts ( resulting from power struggle) in Oman, prevented the Oman administration (ruler) from having enough power to effectively control the region.
• For example, following the overthrow of the Yarubi ruling dynasty by the Busaidi ruling dynasty in 1741, many of the Oman governors in the city states ( like the Mazrui dynasty of Mombasa) refused to accept the new ruling dynasty as they wanted to rule themselves, thus, they declared themselves independent. Zanzibar was among the few towns which accepted the change of dynasty in Oman.
• Continuation…..
• Oman started exercising effective control over the East African coast in 1806 when Seyyid Said rose to power. By then, the only places which Oman ruler had greater influence were Zanzibar, Kilwa Kisiwani and Mafia (why?)
• Seyyid Said rose to power after being assisted by the British East Indian Company which had its headquarters in India (Bombay )
• Other Oman rulers before Seyyid Said were known as Imams because, apart from being political leaders, they were also regarded as religious leaders of they community.
• But Seyyid Said, like his father before him, used non religious title, the Sultan, because he had seized (grabbed) power, instead of being traditionally elected by different sections (clans) of the Oman community. Shortly after he rose to power, Seyyid Said moved his capital to Zanzibar.

• Establishment of the Oman-Zanzibar Sultanate 1810-1840
• Having assisted Seyyid Said to consolidate his power in Oman, the British East Indian Company pressurized Seyyid Said to make his claims over East African coast known to other powers (Portugal and France). Why?
• Because Britain feared that the region would fall in the hands of the French who were already along the East African coast since 1770s buying slaves from Zanzibar and Kilwa for their sugarcane and coffee plantations in Mauritius and the Reunion and for export in West Indies (New Land) where they also had plantations and mining centers .
• French occupation of East African coast would endanger British East Indian company commercial interests in the region, since Zanzibar, for example, was an important trading centre along the East African coast.

• Continuation…….
• Therefore by backing up Sultan’s claims over the East African coast, the British East Indian company hoped that the sultan would help to protect British commercial interests in the region.
• It is important to establish at this point that, Sultan’s claims to rule East African coast were not entirely driven by the Sultan himself and his Oman Arabs, but rather, they were partly driven by British capitalist motives to secure reliable sources of markets and raw materials in the region.
• Thus, with the help of the British forces, the sultan was able to establish his effective control over East African coastal towns by 1840. This control began with the occupation of the rebellious towns along the coast of Kenya (Lamu 1813 and Pate 1822). This was followed by the occupation of other coastal towns such Tanga and Pangani along the coast Tanzania.
• Continuation…..
• From Tanga and Pangani, the Sultan extended his influence further south to Kilwa archipelago and Lindi.
• Mombasa under the Mazrui dynasty, was the only coastal town that posed a strong and protracted resistance to Sultan’s efforts to extend his influence along the East African coast. This ruling family highly resisted Sultan’s influence because of three major reasons:
– They were determined to retain their own independence and freedom
– They wanted to exercise effective control over the whole of the Kenyan coastal towns
– They wanted to maintain their control of Pemba island, which was their main source of food.
• Thus, Mombasa made protracted resistances until 1837 when it was finally conquered, making the Sultan an overall ruler of the entire East African coast.
• Continuation……
 To ensure effective control of the region, the Sultan had to shift his government headquarters from Muscat Oman to Zanzibar in 1840. His decision to locate his capital city in Zanzibar was attributed to a number of reasons:
– Great fertility of the islands promised the development of successful agricultural economy.
– Good climate, cool and wet/humid climate when compared to Oman hot and dry climate.
– Presence of good natural harbors which could easily facilitate the calling of ship, loading and unloading of cargo (goods)
– Zanzibar was just opposite to the mainland which was a greater source of ivory and slaves
– Good revenue which the Sultan had started collecting from ivory and slave trade of Kilwa and other towns in the southern Swahili coast through Zanzibar before he transferred his capital to Zanzibar.
• Establishment of the Zanzibar Commercial Empire
• The prosperity of trading or commercial activities in Zanzibar in particular and the East African coast and the interior in general was a result of the creation of the Oman Zanzibar sultanate by Seyyid Said between 1820s and 1840s.
• The creation of Zanzibar sultanate in turn created conducive environment for the expansion of commercial activities between Zanzibar and its adjacent interior.
• In ensuring further expansion and prosperity of commercial activities in his area of control, Sultan Seyyid Said adapted several measures:
– He signed commercial agreements or treaties with representatives from America, Britain, France, and Germany government between 1830s and 1840s. He did so in order to secure markets for the main products, ivory and cloves
• Continuation……
– He encouraged Oman Arabs to migrate to Zanzibar to establish clove and coconut plantations even before transferring his capital to Zanzibar.
– Having recognized that his own people (Oman Arabs) were not skilled enough in money matters, he invited Indian merchants (Banyans). These had distinguished themselves as skilled businessmen and had proved to him (back home) to have good ability of financial management . These Indian merchants played a double role in the Zanzibar sultanate:
üThey worked as custom officials of the sultan at different ports
üThe richest became money lenders. They gave loans in the form of trade goods to Arab - Swahili traders who led the caravan in the interior of mainland Tanzania. This situation encouraged more Swahili traders to participate in the caravan trade in search of ivory and slaves in the interior.

– He also reduced obstacles/ barriers to trade at all the coastal ports by introducing a uniform five percent (5%) custom duty (amount of money paid as tax for imported and exported goods). Before his arrival in Zanzibar, each coastal town had its own rate of custom duty.
– He introduced some Indian money known as Pice in order to facilitate the flow of trade in Zanzibar.
• Effects of coastal trade on the development of social, economic and political formation
• It is important to analyze the contribution made by the development of external trade along the East African coast and its societies during the period of nearly two millennia (2nd century BC to 18th century AD). Why?
• Because this analysis would help us to understand how external trading contacts impacted political, social, cultural and economic evolution of coastal societies and the interior in general. Some of the major effects are:
 During the first phase (2nd century BC to 7th century AD):
§ During the first phase, there was hardly any significant contribution made by the coastal trade. This was due to two major reasons:
– One, there was lack of continuous and constant trading contacts, traders made periodic visits along the coast. Two, even trading centers and towns of considerable size had not developed

 The only position or achievement of this early phase of trading contacts along the coast was to expose East Africa and its resources to the outside world.
  During the 2nd phase (8th century AD to the 18th century AD)
The second phase produced reasonable political, social, economic and cultural impacts along the East African coast because it was in this period that the coast achieved the height of its civilization due to :
ü Increased commercial activities, especially trade in gold
ü Growth of coastal city states as important trading centers
ü Establishment of the Zanzibar commercial empire.
q The effects of this phase can be described as follow:
• A general significant development during this phase was the rise of coastal culture and civilization commonly regarded as the Swahili culture/civilization. Swahili civilization that developed along the coast was characterized by :

ü Development of a common coastal language, Kiswahili which was an important means of communication in the process of trading interaction
ü Spread of Islam as a religion . Islam began to spread gradually among the coastal societies from the 9th century when the coast started receiving Islamized traders. From the coast, Islam was carried by the same traders to the interiors especially from the 18th century.
ü Development of Arabic style of architecture (building). This included the construction of flat roofed buildings using stones and lime. Thus, most of the coastal city states were characterized by attractive structures such palaces (official home of a king/queen) and mosques. Husuni Kubwa and the Great Mosque in Kilwa are examples of such structures.
• Continuation…..
ü Development of mode of production out of he city states societies. This mode of production was basically a slave mode of production. This mode of production was featured by ;
• Existence of two major classes, the dominant class ( slave masters) and the subordinate class (slaves)
• Specific form of division of labor, the slaves and the were the laborers while the slave masters were non laborers.
• Slaves were legal properties of the slave master. The slave masters owned both, the slaves and the product of his labor
• Many people from different parts of the interior were either employed as porters to carry ivory to the coastal ports or were taken to Zanzibar and Pemba as slaves to work in cloves and coconut plantations.
ü In this way human labor was drained away from the traditional economy of the interior. This marked the beginning of the earliest form of migrant labor in the East Africa.


• Areas bordering the coast became suppliers of food to Zanzibar and Pemba to feed the labor force in the clove plantation, and the ruling families and merchant classes in towns. Usambara for example became a big exporter of sorghum, where as Uzigua exported millet and rice annually.
• Many people bordering the trading centers and caravan routes in the interior had to supply food to resident coastal traders and to caravans travelling between the coast and the interior.
ü People around Tabora for example found it important to produce more food than before in order to feed coastal traders and their large numbers of porters and slaves residing there on transit to slave market.

• Trade in essential goods or basic goods like iron tools, salt, ports, foodstuff, handcraft products, and animal products was replaced by trade in luxury goods such as cotton cloth, beads, looking glasses, copper wire, alcoholic drinks and guns. Foreign traders were not interested in traditional products produced in the interior, they were instead, looking for slaves, ivory and gold.
• Development of trading centers in the interior. These towns began as collection centers for ivory, slaves and food for the caravans. They gradually grew into large trading centers most of which were located along the central route from Bagamoyo (East) to Lake Tanganyika ( West).
• Continuation…
• The contact led to cultural, ethnic, and linguistic changes in the coastal towns and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. For example:
ü Large migrations of Africans from the interior to the coastal towns and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba as slaves resulted to high population in the coastal towns and the islands. Hence, the population in these areas became more and more ethnically mixed up than ever before.
ü The use of African women as concubine by Arabs produced a relatively large Swahili speaking Afro-Arab group (mulatoes). For example most of Seyyid Said’s wives were Africans and his children spoke Kiswahili rather than Arabic.
• Continuation….
• Increased power struggle between different ruling families in each state. This was triggered by the acquisition of fire arms by the Batemi and other members of the ruling families.
ü For example, in the Kingdom of Unyanyembe, the death of Ntemi Fundikira (1858) marked the beginning of power struggle within the royal family.
ü The struggle began when the rightful successor, Mwanasele was overthrown in 1860 by one of his relatives named Kiyungi with the help of the Zanzibar Arab traders who resided in Tabora.
ü These Arabs did not like Mwanasele because he had imposed heavy taxes on them soon after his installation in 1858. On this ground, Arab traders used military power to assist Kiyungi to remove him

• The spread of fire arms in the western region eventually led to the rise of military rulers or war lords in the 1870s. The most outstanding among them were Mirambo (Tabora), Nyungu ya mawe( Ukimbu), Simba of Ukonongo in Mpanda District, Ntinginya of Busongo in Igunga District and Kapela of Bukune in what is now Kahama district
ü These new kind of rulers disregarded completely the traditional norms of succession to kingship and the traditional political boundaries in the region (How?). Instead they used guns and mercenaries (Rugaruga) to get political power and create entirely new larger states by forcibly uniting several small states.
Thus, rulers like Mirambo and Nyungu ya mawe were able to expand their areas of control and committed great atrocities against small states because of the fire arms they acquired from the coast through trading contact.

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Economic History of Tanzania part ii

 TANZANIA ECONOMY AND EARLY OUTSIDE INFLUENCES

ANCIENT CONTACT ALONG THE COAST

Development of coastal trade link through the Indian ocean to the 18th century.

The development of trade link in Pre-colonial Tanzania can be divided into two main phases. Each phase covering a period of approximately one millennia.

The First Phase:

The first covered the period from the 2nd century BC to about the 7th century.

– This period was featured by lack of continuous and constant trade contact on the coast.

– The dominant social formations that stimulated this earliest trading contacts were the Greeks and Romans.



• Continuation….

The demands of the Romans and Greeks for ivory induced the Arab traders to extend their commercial activities to the East African coast as early as the 2nd century BC as indicated in the Periplus of the Erythrean sea.

– This book was compiled by a Greek Egyptian sailor. The Periplus of the Erythrean sea indicates that, this trade extended only as far as the Horn of Africa (the coast of Somalia)

• The extension of the trade from the Horn southwards up to Tanzanian coast is said to have been made by the Arab traders during the 5th and 6th centuries.

As far as the first phase is concerned it is important to note the following:

– A trading station known as Rhapta had been established on the Tanzanian coast during this period although the actual location of Rhapta is not yet known.





• Continuation….

– During this period the demand for ivory had extended to India, China and Indonesia.

– Frequent demand for food and mangrove poles on the South Arabian coast, slave labor in Iraq around the 7th and 8th centuries also facilitated increased trading activities on the coast during this first phase.

– During this phase no permanent settlements were established though Arab traders intermarried with local Africans. Such intermarriage constitute the origin of the Swahili people and their language and civilization.

• Continuation….

The second phase:

• The second phase of coastal trading contacts through the Indian ocean, covers the period from the 8th to the 18th centuries AD. This is normally referred to as the period of the rise, growth and consolidation of the east African civilization. The development of coastal trade during this period can be divided into four (4) main stages:

The first stage:

– The first stage covers the period from the 8th to the 12th centuries. During this period, trading contacts were dominated by Oman and Persian empires

– It was during this period that the Persians made the first attempts to establish settlements along the East African coast including Zanzibar. Large migrations from Shiraz in Persia to East Africa took place during the 10th century AD.

• Continuation….

– This large migration was mainly due to the attractions of gold from Zimbabwe whose export from Sofala coast had began at the beginning of the 10th AD. Gold was among the luxurious item of export from East Africa. Other exports were Leopold skins, tortoise shells, ivory, slaves and ambergris

The second stage:

• The second stage covered the period of approximately three centuries, the 13th to the 15th centuries. This period is regarded as the height of civilization along the coast of East Africa and Tanzania in particular. Gold from Zimbabwe was greatly responsible for the rapid growth of Kilwa and other city states along the coast.

– Gold was carried from Zimbabwe to the Sofala coast from where it was shipped to Kilwa. Hence, Kilwa became the most important centre of trade in gold along the coast of east Africa.

• Continuation…..

– Besides Kilwa, trade during this period resulted into the growth and prosperity of a number of other city states along the coast of East Africa. Such towns included Zanzibar, Mombasa, Malindi, Mogadishu, and Pate.

The third stage:

• The third stage in the development of trade along the coast constituted the Portuguese period, covering the 16th to the 17th centuries.

– Portuguese interest along the East African coast was to capture and control the trade system dominated by the Arab traders. In their efforts to meet their desires, they used methods of warfare, raids, as well as acts of piracy and robbery.

• Continuation….

– The use of force became necessary because the Portuguese lacked sufficient commercial capital. This explain why the Portuguese established a series of military garrisons along the coast of East Africa as evidenced by the Fort Jesus. Such garrisons covered the entire coast of East Africa from Mogadishu in the north to Sofala in the South.

– The methods that the Portuguese used to gain control over the East African trade which was under control of the Arab traders caused a lot of destructions to the prosperity of the coastal city states as well as to the system of trade itself as follows:

• There was a diversion of the major trade routes especially in connection with copper and gold. Gold and copper were now shipped overseas from Sofala southwards and through the Atlantic ocean.

• Continuation…

• The coastal city states such as Kilwa, began to decline because their prosperity had depended on gold trade. This meant that the African and Arab traders who had acted as middlemen also lost their business.

• Conflict developed between African gold miners and Portuguese traders. The Portuguese thought to control gold production. This was highly resisted by African gold miners. For this reason, bitter conflict developed between Mwanamutapa African gold miners and the Portuguese traders leading to the decline of the out put of gold.

• The Portuguese introduced trading licenses and permits on African and Arab traders. This led to further decline of trade between East Africa and Asia.

• Continuation….

• The Portuguese were not interested in developing the city states, rather, they left the towns to stagnate and decay.

The fourth stage:

• The forth stage constituted the 18th century. This was featured by the rise of the Oman empire on the East African coast.

– The Oman Arabs began to challenge the Portuguese predominance in East Africa from the mid of 17th century. These challenges facilitated or assisted anti- Portuguese resistance by the African people as well as the city states. The Portuguese got finally expelled out of the East African coast, especially after the decline of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1698.

– Thus throughout the 18th century, the Oman Arabs strived to revive the East African coastal trade and reconstruct the city states and their beautiful buildings.

• Continuation….

• The expulsion of the Portuguese from the East African coast simplified the coastal ports trade with Arabian countries and north western India. The main exports during this period were ivory, slaves, gum, and vegetable oil.

• During the second half of the 19th century, trade in slaves developed significantly as the Oman Arab traders became agents of the Dutch and French who had great demand of slaves for their sugar plantations in Mauritius and Re-union islands in the Indian ocean.

• Establishment of the Zanzibar commercial empire .

• The prosperity of commercial activities in Zanzibar in particular and the East African coast in general was result of the creation of the Oman Zanzibar sultanate by Seyyid Said in the 1820s and 1840s.

• This situation created favorable conditions to the expansion of commerce especially the one which based on slaves, ivory, gold, bee wax, and other commodities produced in the interior of Tanzania.

• In ensuring prosperity of commercial activities in his area of control, Seyyid Said adopted several measures:

– He signed commercial treaties or agreements with representatives of America, British, French and Germany government in the 1830s and 1840s. He did so in order to get markets for the main products of the region such as ivory and cloves.

– He encouraged Oman Arabs to move to Zanzibar and establish clove and coconut plantations even before transferring his capital to Zanzibar.

– He recognized that his own people, the Oman Arabs were not skilled in money matters, so he invited Indian merchants (Banyans) because they had distinguished themselves as skilled businessmen and proved their financial management ability to him in Oman. These Indian merchants played a double role in the Zanzibar sultanate:

• They worked as custom officials of the Sultan at different parts

• The richest merchants became money lenders. These money lenders gave loans in the form of trade goods to Arabs and Swahili merchants who wanted to lead caravan in the interior of mainland Tanzania and other parts of East Africa.

• Continuation…..

» This situation encouraged more Arabs and Swahili traders to organize tours for the penetration of the interior in search of ivory and slaves.

– He removed obstacles to trade at all the coastal ports by introducing a uniform five (5) percent duty. Before his arrival in Zanzibar each coastal town had its own rate of custom duties.

– He also introduced some Indian money (pice) in order to facilitate the flow of trade at its base in Zanzibar. This new money joined the American dollar and the Maria Theresa dollar from Australia which were already in circulation in Zanzibar.

• Continuation….

• However, during the 1850s , Europeans driven by mercantile demands began to participate direct in the East African long distance trade in search of natural products especially ivory, slaves, animal skins, gold, forest products, etc.

• Thus, the year 1857 marked the beginning of direct European participation in the caravan system, and the commencement of imperialist activities in the interior of east Africa.

• European involvement in the caravan system contributed to the expansion of trading activities resulting to the expansion of the elephant hunting, a greater demand for caravan labor and changes in the organization of portarage.

Mercantilism and the development of long distance trade (ivory, gold, and slave labor)

Introduction:

– The international development of capitalism increased the demand of East African commodities especially ivory, gold, copal, animal skin, rhino horns and slaves to work in the plantations of Zanzibar and Pemba.

– This process was not abrupt, from agricultural and craft production activities to trading activities, but rather a gradual one determined by market forces driven by both internaonal capitalism and emergence local entrepreneurial groups including Muslim traders, Indian financiers and the African traders.

– These commercial transaction resulted to the emergence of long distance trade.

– Long distance trade resulted to the development of urban centers in the interior. It was in these centers that the changes brought by new economic power were visible.



Mercantilism / International trade and local production in pre-colonial Tanzania

• Until the begging of the 19th century, East Africa was almost separated from its interior. However, the interior region were characterized by the presence of wide spread networks of African local and inter-regional trades mainly in salt, iron, copper, foodstuff and forests products, that was connected only occasionally to the coast.

• During the first decade of the 19th century, following increased demands of ivory, slaves, and copal, strong commercial relations began to develop.

Commodities

As already described, trade goods involved in the long distance trade included ivory, slaves, and copal.

– Ivory:

The earliest African ivory was highly demanded in Europe and America to produce luxury goods such as:

– Parts of music instrument ( accordion keys)

– Combs

– Knife handles

– Ornaments of various forms

In pre-colonial Tanzania, regions that supplied ivory includes the lake Tanganyika region, the Chagga area, the Masai area, and the southern regions. These were shipped to Zanzibar through Bagamoyo before they were shipped to capitalist countries.

– Slaves

Slaves were shipped from pre-colonial Tanzania to Middle East, however, this trade declined towards the end of the 19th century following increased abolitionist movements in Europe.

In the 19th century, colonial Tanzania increased demand for slaves was motivated by expansion of plantation economy in Zanzibar and Pemba.

In the second part of the 19th century, slaves were mainly captured from Katanga and Manyema ( present day DRC) and present day Southern Tanzania. Kilwa remained the most important port for shipment of slaves.

– Copal

Copal was also highly demanded especially in the United States of America to produce high quality and value varnishes for the furniture industry. East Africa copal was the best in the world and was extracted from the forests of the coastal hinterlands.

During the 19th century, all these products were experiencing growing prices on the world market.

For example, the prices of ivory doubled between 1826 and 1857, and doubled again in the next 30 years.

Growing prices of these commodities had two notable effects:

• High prices facilitated the penetration of traders in the interior to collect such commodities which they acquired with imported cloth, glass beads, and metal products.



• Growing prices of the interior products led to the accumulation of merchant capital among coastal traders. Through this capital, coastal traders were able to finance and organize effectively the caravans in the interior.

Traders:

The most important group of traders in central Tanzania were the Nyamwezi. Before the expansion and growth of long distance trade, the Nyamwezi were involved and organized inter-regional trade where salt, iron, copper, cattle, and agricultural products were exchanged.

In a real sense, these commercial activities laid the basis for the development of caravan road to the coast.

Generally speaking, several factors may be used to explain why the Nyamwezi took the leading role in the caravan trade

» The Nyamwezi were able to use the opportunities offered by trade with the coast and were able to accumulate wealth in export of such goods like ivory. This enabled them to finance their own businesses with the coast.

» Using their experiences from inter-regional trade, Nyamwezi traders were able to rapidly adapt themselves to the new patterns of coastal trade.

» Increased cultivation of mbuga and adaptation of white rice production enable the Nyamwezi to make super profit.

This profit was further re-invested in paying additional labor in the form wives, slaves, and Tutsi cattle herders. With these abundant laborers the Nyamwezi traders could be free from farm works and therefore had ample time to travel, and engaged themselves in trading activities especially during the dry season.



» The Nyamwezi produced a variety of trade goods such as grains, potatoes, pumpkins, tobacco, honey, bee wax, animal skins, baskets, wooden utensils, and bark cloth. In this way the Nyamwezi were able to have a variety of trade items which could be exchanged with exotic goods.

» The position of the Nyamwezi in the centre of the regional trading system between the producers of salt and iron in the west and the consumers of iron to the east and south made them to have the middle men position.

» The prevailing condition of peace and stability. There is no evidence for attacks by outsiders until mid 19th century when the migratory Ngoni invaded parts of Ukimbu and Usumbwa. Before this invasion, conflicts were limited to occasional small scale raiding of one Nyamwezi chiefdom by another. A long period of peace enable the Nyamwezi to utilize other advantages that they possessed.



Porters

In the 19th century the development of trade in ivory, copal and slaves created the condition for the development of a class of wage workers in transport sector, the human porters.

– The Nyamwezi in particular, were the most requested porters and developed specific abilities to carry goods to and from the coast.

– The Nyamwezi were the first class of wage laborers that developed in the area and became the back bone of long distance trade with the coast. These porters received wage in exchange for their work.

– The porters individually or collectively defended their interests. For example, when the wages were not attractive, they refused to continue carrying the goods until wages were increased.

– Generally, porters played a central role in creating conditions for the participation of pre-colonial Tanzania economy to the global economy.

• Apart from porters, other professional figures that developed in connection to the caravan trade includes the following:

– The Kirangozi

This was the guide who was the in charge of the caravan.

• He possessed a deep knowledge of the best path / ways to follow in order to find food and water during the journey.

• Beside Kiswahili, he was skilled in the languages needed for trading in the interior.

• He was in charge of the negotiation of tributes, the Hongo, that had to be paid to local chiefs along the caravan road.

– The Nyampara

This was a head of small gangs of porters, generally composing of 10-15 individuals.

• He recruited his own group of porters in the coastal ports, negotiated their salaries and he was responsible for them during the journey.

• There was several Nyamparas in the same caravan, but only one Kirangozi.

– Askaris

These were the armed guards and always travelled with a caravan.

• They had a task to protect the caravan and also to maintain order in the porter rank.

• The number of askaris employed generally depended on the total number of porters, commonly, there was one guard to every ten porters

• The askaris were for the most part of coastal origin and many of them settled in the commercial towns of the interior.

• Money in the form of cloth and beads, became common payment of wages and was used to buy food along the caravan roads.

• The caravan staff received daily food rations, the so called “posho”, that could be paid both in grains ( generally sorghum or millet) or in exchange goods, especially beads.

Consequences of long distance trade

– There was increased production and exploitation of natural products in the interior. This was because of increased mercantile demands of such products like copal, ivory, animal skin, and food stuffs. This increased demand in turn facilitated the penetration of traders in the interior.

– The trade led to the development of professional figures such as the Kirangozi, Nyampara, and traders. These categories of people played a central role in the development and expansion of the caravan system.

– Medium of exchange came into common use, money in the form of cloth and beads became common payment of wages and was used to buy food along the caravan roads.

– Caravan trade was responsible in introducing innovations in the interior. Traders and porters introduced foreign crops and agricultural techniques to their home regions. They also spread cultural innovations such as new languages and religion.

– The trade led to the development of complex networks of foot tracks which criss - crossed the length and breadth of a nearly million kilometers. These networks were associated with market towns and caravan stops (Makambi)

– The trade resulted to the emergence of trading centers or towns in the interior. These towns began as collection centers for ivory, slaves, and food for the caravan. Most of these centers were established along the central route from Bagamoyo to lake Tanganyika.

– Some areas bordering the coast became exporters of food to Zanzibar and Pemba to feed the labor force in the clove and coconut plantations. For example, the ruling and merchant classes in towns like Usambara became big exporters of sorghum where as towns like Uzigua exported millet and rice.

– Many people bordering trading centers and caravan routes in the interior had to supply food to resident coastal traders and to caravans travelling between the coast and the interior.

People around Tabora for example, found it important and necessary to produce more food than before in order to feed coastal traders and their large number of porters and slaves residing there on their transit to slave market.

– It led to the conversion of some people to Islam, particularly among the Yao in the southern interior and among the Digo and Segeju in Usambara.

– The trade led to the division of the population in most pre colonial Tanzanian societies into two main groups, namely free people and the slaves.

• Following this introduction of slave trade in the interior, many people took part in slave raiding and slave trade.

• Some people started using even slave labour for the production of surplus food needed by coastal traders, passing caravans, slave labour , ruling class and merchants in the Zanzibar.

• Therefore, there is no doubt that many families must have been broken down in order to provide slaves for both coastal traders and for the local people who needed them.



– Trading relations resulted to cultural, ethnic and linguistic changes in the coastal towns and the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar. As Africans from different parts of the interior were taken to coastal towns and island of Pemba and Zanzibar as slaves, the population of these towns and islands became bigger and more ethnically mixed up than ever.

– The wide spread use of African women as concubines by Arabs produced a relatively large Swahili speaking Afro-Arab group. This mixing between Arabs and Africans had started taking place several centuries earlier. But it increased very much as the slave population increased at the coast and in the island. For example, most of Seyyid Said’s wives were Africans and his children spoke Kiswahili rather than Arabic.

• When ivory became a valuable item of long distance trade during the 19th century, however, some professional elephant hunting groups emerged in some parts of the interior such as Unyamwezi, Usukuma, Buganda, Bunyoro, and Ukambani. In Unyamwezi and Usukuma, for example, these professional elephant hunters became known as Bagunda or Bayege. These professional elephant hunters used guns for their activity that they acquired from coastal traders.



Early missionary activity and economic changes

The penetration of the interior of mainland Tanzania and other parts of East Africa by European missionaries took place between 1840s and 1880s. This penetration was greatly facilitated by long distance trade which exposed the wealth and potentialities of the interior regions which could help to resolve capitalist economic problems.

The arrival of missionaries brought several economic changes in Tanganyika. The missionaries came in different groups and at different times.

Missionaries activities in East Africa started with the establishment of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) station at Rabai in 1844.

– The Church Missionary Society was founded in the city of London in April, 1779. It had its origin from a small group of pioneers who were determined to lead a campaign against slave trade. One of the most important founders was William Wilberforce.

– The society devoted itself to three major responsibilities:

• Abolition of slave trade wherever it existed

• Social reforms at home

• To evangelize the world.

• The Church Missionary Society was followed by the University Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) and the Holly Ghost Fathers.

– The UMCA was a missionary society established by members of the Anglican Church within the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durbin.

– This society was formed as a response to the lectures that Dr. Livingstone gave to British universities on his return from Africa in 1857. The society had two major goals:

• To establish a mission in Central Africa which would help to convert Africans to Christianity

• To oppose slave trade.

• The Holly Ghost Fathers; this was a congregation of Roman Catholic priests from France. These aimed at ransoming slaves. They established their missionary station in Zanzibar in early 1860s. They also set another station at Bagamoyo in 1868.

• The White Fathers; this was another Roman Catholic missionary society founded in 1868 by the first Archbishop of Algeria, later on Cardinal, Lavigerie.

– This aimed at converting Arabs and the people of Central Africa to Christianity. These established their first missionary center at Tabora in 1878. From there, they established other missionary centre at Bukumbi, near Mwanza in 1883.

• This slow but steady occupation of Tanganyika by missionaries was very important because they were the first group of Europeans to settle in the interior on a long term basis.

• Beyond their evangelical role, missionaries played a vital role in introducing a number of economic changes in pre-colonial Tanzanian societies. Such economic changes laid a very strong foundation upon which colonial economic infrastructures and colonial economic policies came to be built and operate:

– For example:

» They introduced and encouraged the use of foreign goods. This situation brought Africans more and more into a market economy. To pay for these foreign goods fro example, Africans would have to produce surpluses of agricultural products to sell or find other ways to get money. For many Africans, this meant going to work for wages, what other scholars called the proletarianization.

» Many missionaries played as informants by supplying economic information to government officials and their home governments. These information became very crucial in planning economic infrastructures and policies that traditional subsistence economy was transformed to suit the needs and demands of the capitalist economy.



» Missionaries facilitated the growth of tropical of raw materials like coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, etc. to feed the capitalist industries. Missionaries carried agricultural researches on tropical crops, they established experimental farms and plantations where new crops, better methods of farming and equipments were introduced.

» Missionaries trained manpower through introduction of education which was used to foster European economic interests. For example, missionary education produced agricultural extension officers and equipped Africans with basic agricultural skills to ensure high production of raw materials. Thus missionary education was important in triggering economic changes in the whole process of production.

» Missionaries also introduced hospitals and clinics which offered modern medicine and researches in tropical diseases such as malaria, small pox, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, etc. which had claimed the many lives, thus affecting production and economic status of Africa.

• Therefore, such medical services were aiming at controlling diseases so as to lower death rate and ensure a growing population which could supply enough labor to different sectors of colonial economy. Increased labor supply meant positive change in the economy.

» Missionary centers acted as market centers for European imported goods. In this way local industries like craft industries including blacksmiths, pottery and weaving industries were all destroyed and replaced with European manufactured products. This had a negative impact on the traditional African economy.



TOPIC 4 : FREE TRADE IMPERIALISM AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN TANZANIA

• In this context free trade imperialism is used to mean the situation where by market forces (demand and supply) are so imbalanced that one country can economically dominate onather country. For example: by 1870s european countries had a high demand of raw materials, areas for investment, markets and cheap labour, while the supply of the same items was low. In the same time frame, africa had a high suplly of raw materials, areas for investments and cheap labor, while the demand of the same items was low. Therefore, it was against this imbalances of the market forces that ueropean nations were foreced to expand beyond their boarders so as to quench their thirst.



• In other words, this was an imperial expansion which gained momemntum from 1870 to about 1885, the period reffered to as late pre-colonail period in africa generally and tanzania in particular. The period which marked the end of the pre-colonial era in tanzania and africa in general.

• This late pre colonial eriod has been referred by economic historians as the spring board into colonial period, meaning the period which actually pre-colonial tanzanian economy and societies were fully forced to enter or to jump into colonail period. Therefore, our discussion of the fourth topic shall begin by analyzing the economy and societies of the late pre-colonial period.

The late Pre-colonial tanzanian econmoy and societies ( 1870-early 1885)

A: Late Pre-colonial Tanzanian societies.

• Up to about 1885 most of the people of Tanganyika were still independent of any type of foreign control. They governed themselves except those in the island of Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia, Kilwa and other coastal towns who were under the control of the Arabs of Oman since the 18th century.

• They late pre-colonial Tanzanian societies governed themselves through village leaders, clan leaders, or powerful kings. This means, therefore, that the main characteristics which different Tanzanian societies had by 1885 could be summarized as follow:



• Most of social or ethnic groups which existed in Tanzania at that time were not tribes as they became known later during colonial period. Rather, they were clusters of cultural linguistic groups whose identity derived from sharing a basic common language, a common culture, common political institutions and common patterns of economic life. In other words, they a group of people with common cultural characteristics, common political institutions and common patterns of economy.

• Each linguistic group had its own territory. The boarders between these linguistic groups were not always fixed; they changed as these groups expanded or contracted. In other words, there was no fixed boarders, boarders hanged from time to time depending on the situation at hand.

• Politically, most Tanzanian societies were stateless in which village or clan heads governed. Centralized states developed in few areas especially those with favored environment like the interlucustrine region where we had the great Karagwe kingdom as a good example.



• Most of these stateless societies were egalitarian and democratic, particularly those with age-grade and age set such as the Masai. Generally, these communities were featured by maximum equality and absence of exploitation.

• Some societies such as the Haya, the Sukuma, the Nyamwezi, the Shambaa, the Pare, the Chagga, the Hehe, the Yao, the Ngoni, and the Swahili in the coastal towns and islands of Zanzibar and Pemba were ruled by powerful kings.





B: Late Pre-colonial Tanzanian economy.

– Economically, most of them lived by growing crops or herding cattle, goats or sheep or by doing both on individual family basis. They also fished, hunted and exchanged goods.



– The cultivators and mixed farmers remained in their settlements for fairly a long period of time before moving to other places, while the pastoralists wandered with their animals from place to place in search of fresh pasture and water.

– By 1880s trading activities, especially the long distance trade had gained a considerable momentum. This resulted to the emergence of specialists such as elephant hunters, traders, soldiers, porters and craftsmen. Thus, power began to shift from skilled agriculturalists to the Swahili people whose economies rested more trade.

Despite this power shift, agriculture was not neglected because of two major reasons:

» Agriculture benefited from two new food crops of American origin, maize and manioc, together with Asian crops like white rice all of which were carried to the interior through the caravan routes.

» Increased agriculture specialization and exchange. Zanzibar’s demands for food penetrated steadily further into the hinterland and mainland, converting the people of these areas into peasants who specialized in food production. For example by 1870s:

• Areas like Kisiju in the southern part of Tanzania, specialized in growing manioc to feed the slaves awaiting shipment from Kilwa.

• The Shambaa purchased cattle from the Kamba, fattened them for the Zanzibar market.

• Tanga exported millet to Arabia.

• Sesame seeds produced in Uzaramo and southern interior was shipped to Marseilles for conversion into oil.





• Rubber collected wild rather than grown in plantations, became Kilwa’s major export after 1876 following increased world demand. By 1880, rubber traders had penetrated to the southern highlands.

– Slave revolts became a common occurrence in the plantations after 1873 when slave trade and slavery were declared illegal. A series of slave revolts took place in the coconut and clove plantations of Zanzibar and Pemba where as in the mainland, slaves who were producing sugar in the Panagni valley also mounted a number of revolts.

• This fugitive slaves established their independent republic in areas like Korogwe. Similar maroon republics / communities were established in places like Tanga and Makonde plateau in the south.

– Some historians have also argued that the late pre-colonial period was featured by improved communication networks especially footpaths as a result of long distance trade and greater inter-regional trade. This improvement was responsible in slowing down famine as food could be effectively supplied in areas of demands.





The expansion of external contact and its consequences

• The expansion of external contact was a result of direct European involvement in Tanzania due to social, economic, and political changes which occurred in Europe since the 18th century. These changes were caused by the industrial revolution.



• The industrial revolution refers to the rapid changes in the tools and methods of production of goods which were brought about by mechanical discoveries. Industrial revolution started in Britain during the second half of the 18th century and spread to other European countries in the 19th century.

• This revolution led to the improvement in the tools and methods of production which made slave labor less profitable and therefore, produced new attitudes towards slave trade. In fact the success of industrialization was the main factor which persuaded European countries to abolish slave trade.

• The industrial revolution also brought about increased demands for raw materials, markets, sources for investments and areas to settle European surplus population. The solutions to these problems were to be obtained outside Europe, as Europe alone was not in a position to resolve these problems.

• Therefore, as trade between East Africa and Western capitalist countries expanded in the second half of the 19th century, many more Europeans came in Tanzania as traders, missionaries and explorers. The major intention of these categories was to find out the potentialities of the country and how such potentialities could best resolve their economic problems.

• Their coming therefore, meant the extension of European interests to the Tanzanian interior. These interests included economic interests, Christianity and the so called civilization. These interests were supported by the work of traders, missionaries and explorers.

• Traders, explorers, and missionaries saw themselves as the bearers of European civilization in Africa. This is clearly shown in their reports, books and speeches.

• Travelers/ explorers such as Speke and Stanley for example, campaigned openly for the British occupation of East African region. Their speeches and writings often contained exaggerated reports of the riches to be gained and the human sufferings to be removed by the British colonizers.

• Unlike traders and explorers, who supported colonization mainly for economic reasons, the missionaries campaigned for European occupation of the region mainly for humanitarian and religious grounds. The suppression of slave trade, the stoppage of local wars, the spread of Christianity, and the introduction of legitimate trade were their main aims.

• It is therefore evident that, the partition of East Africa into European colonies between 1885 and 1890 was a logical out come of the efforts made by earlier traders, explorers, and missionaries to open up the African continent for commerce, Christianity and European political control.



• It was a logical outcome because almost all the European explorers, missionaries, and traders had expected their efforts to end up with the colonization of the area. In fact, all the three groups of Europeans who became involved in Tanzania and neighboring areas in the 19th century were agents of European colonialism or imperialism, whether they knew it or not because their activities and campaigns eventually led to the colonization of Tanzania in particular and Africa in general.

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Economic History of Tanzania part i

           ECONOMIC HISTORY OF TANZANIA

• Economic history is the study of the economic activities of man over time. Such activities include how man gets wealth and how they use that wealth.

• Economic historian is mainly concerned with the evolution of economic institutions such as agriculture, trade, industry, labor relations, etc.

ü The economic historian attempts to describe the changes that have occurred or taken place in each of those institutions and to explain the factors that have affected the evolution of those institutions.

ü The economic historian also attempts to show the influence of each of those economic institutions on man’s economic life.

• Continuation….

Approaches to economic history

• There are several approaches to the study and writing of economic history that have so far been employed by economic historians. The most important ones are:

• Studying economic activities by which man or human society has been engaged over time to acquire wealth and how man has used that wealth.

– In this approach:

• Economic historians attempt to describe the changes that have occurred in the economic institutions/activities of the society,

• He/she tries to explain the factors that have affected the evolution of economic institutions,

• He/she attempts to show the influence of economic institutions on man’s economic life.

• Continuation..

– Although in studying or writing economic history, economic historian may have to employ or make reference to some economic principles, he need not to be a competent economist.

– Nevertheless, he definitely may have to depend upon experts in other disciplines to give him the basic materials/information necessary for his own research. For example he may need the assistance of:

• economists

• geographers

• technologists

• scientists

• demographers

• agricultural experts, etc.



• Continuation….

• The neo classical approach.

– This school of thought has its origin in the 18th century (classical) theories of Adam Smith (1723-1790) and David Ricardo (1772-1823) and refined by the 19th and 20th centuries theories of economists like Alfred Marshal (1842-1924).

• It is Neo (New) in the sense that it departs sharply from classical view point in its analytic approach that places great emphasis on mathematical techniques/equations than qualitative techniques in the study of various aspect of the economy.

• It is classical in the sense that it is based on the classical belief that economic activities are determined by the market forces of demand and supply.

• Continuation….

– Generally, Under this approach, economic historian analyzes market processes and the problem of resources allocation.

• Analysis of Market process involves :

– Analysis of exchange system, for example; local, regional, inter-continental and analysis of mode of exchange ( money or batter)

– Analysis of market forces of demand and supply and the way they affect production.

• The problem of resource allocation involves the analysis of how resource distribution determine and affect human activities and production



• Continuation….

• The dependence approach. Under this approach, economic history of the society can be analyzed and written down basing on such concepts like unequal exchange, underdevelopment, center-periphery relation, development for underdevelopment. In this approach, the economy of the society is analyzed with reference to the above concepts.

• The Marxist approach. This approach examine how specific system ( trade, agriculture, industry, etc) originate, develop, function and change in a given historical epoch.

– For example, Economic historian can look at trade, agriculture, and industry and see how they have developed or changed over different historical epochs ( communalism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism and socialism)

• Continuation……

Basic concerns of Economic History

• The basic concerns of economic history, therefore, can be summarized as follows:

– To study demographic trends, particularly the way human population have been changing over time and the analysis of forces that triggered such changes.

– To examine the environment and asses how the environment affect economic transformations and development of human society.

– To make an examination of climatic changes and its impacts on the economic development of the society. This examination may also go further to the extent of understanding how societies responded to such changes.

• Continuation…..

– To examine agricultural development of a given society. For example, economic historian can study different system of land use, different agrarian relations of production existing in the society, that is colonial agriculture, mixed agriculture, sedentary agriculture, nomadic agriculture, etc.

– To study trade and exchange systems existing in human society. For example, the development of local trade, long distance trade, international trade and their impacts on the society concerned.

– To examine the processes of migration and immigration. It generally covers migration patterns such as the movement of people from one area to another, rural to urban flow, rural to rural flow, urban to rural flow and urban to urban flow. It analyses the growth of urban centers and its associated problems.

• Continuation….

– To analyze production systems in a given society, for example, Nyaraubanja, Umwinyi, Kihamba, Ubugabire , etc.

– To analyze the development of financial institutions, that is, what they are, who owns and control them, their role in economic development of the society and heir impact on the society.

– To analyze how Tanzania was integrated into the world capitalist economy; through mercantilism and colonization and its resultant colonial economy and its legacy after independence.

– To describe the development of underdevelopment, through dependence, debt crisis, poverty, unequal exchange, center-periphery relations, etc.

• Continuation….

– To analyze neo-colonial situation, that is operation of multinational corporations, operation of world financial institutions, the Structural Adjustment Program, globalization, etc.

– To analyze the development of class struggle in Tanzania, that is the evolution and emergence of the classes of the “have” and the “have nots”.

– To analyze labor processes in Tanzania, that is the emergence of the working class in Tanzania and its associated movements.

• The Schema/description on the present economic reality of Tanzania

The economic reality of Tanzania is the neo-colonial economy. Neo colonial economy refers to the type of economy which is controlled by capitalist countries and economies. Such kind of an economy is there to serve and meet the interests of the capitalist world.

• This economy is characterized by backwardness against the demands of modern society, it is unable to meet the needs of contemporary society. These countries are usually behind because of obstacles such as:

– Lack of technology

– Unstable government

– Exploitation of periphery countries agriculture

– Natural resources found in these countries helps and maintain core countries to remain dominants

– Insufficient infrastructures

• Continuation….

Features of Neo-colonial economy

A Neo-colonial economy is featured by the following:

• Periphery economy: the world economy is built up only through capitalism for the purpose of fulfilling capitalist demands and interests. Therefore, Tanzania has no national economy, but an economy which is integrated into capitalist economy.

• Overdependence on market or liberal economy: Tanzania depends much on liberal/market economy. Liberal economy implies that the government should not try to control prices, rents or wages, but instead let the open competition and forces of demands and supply create an equilibrium prices, rents and wages. In this way the country loose control over her economy.

• Continuation…

• Poor and backward economies: economies of neo-colonial countries are poor and backward in terms of technology, capital, education, health, etc. All these create a state of dependence to the capitalist countries. This dependence create a room for the rich countries to exploit the poor countries.

• Collapse of subsistence sector or economy: there is a clear collapse of subsistence economy in most neo-colonial states as a result of extreme poverty in these countries. This is because subsistence sector has not been commercialized and therefore dormant. Producers in this sector are not motivated to produce because the sector has not been commercialized.

– Therefore there is a need to modernize and commercialize the subsistence sector so as to ensure its growth.

• Continuation…

• Underdeveloped economy: neo-colonial state is characterized by underdeveloped economy. An underdeveloped economy is defined as an economy which has got unexploited natural resources and unutilized human resources. In other words, it is an economy having potentialities to grow, but such potentialities are unexploited.

– An underdeveloped economy shows the following features:

• Natural resources remains unexploited due to various reasons such as lack of technology, lack of sufficient power supply, political instabilities, etc.

• An underdeveloped country is basically a primary producing country, engaging its factors of production to produce raw material and foodstuffs. The percentage of population engaged in agricultural sector is very high and a major part of the total national income comes from agriculture.



• Continuation….

• Lack of capital. This causes both low productivity and underdevelopment. Lack of capital limits the adoption of better production techniques.

• Low per-capital income and severe poverty as a result of low productivity.

• Backwardness in the field of human resources. The quality of people as producing agents is very low. There is low labor efficiency, lack of entrepreneurship skills and economic ignorance. People being illiterate are guided by blind beliefs, customs and traditions.

• There is lack of infrastructural facilities like transport, banking, health, power, education and information technology. People also adopt outdated techniques of production which results in low productivity.

• Continuation……

Why are we facing all these predicaments in our economy?/why neo-colonial economy?/why underdeveloped economy?

In order to answer all these questions we have to analyze the historiography of neo-colonial economy / underdeveloped economy in Africa.



Historiographical note about neo-colonial situation

The historiography of Neo-colonial economy can be looked at through three paradigms, that is:

» Colonial view

» Nationalist view

» Marxist view







• Continuation….

– These three views are important in describing neo-colonial situation in Africa and Tanzania in particular since historians are not satisfied with simple answers and never take things for granted.

– Historical accounts depends on philosophical and political background of a situation. These resulted to the emergence of the three views about the prevalence of neo-colonial economy in Africa.

Colonial view

According to this school of thought, Africa's economic problems are a result of African themselves and their associated environment. Supporters of this school of thought argues for example; the major causes of Africa's economic predicaments are:

• Continuation…..

» Africans are too lazy and they don’t want to work hard

» Insensitive utilization of natural and human resources

» Environmental hardship like too much diseases and it was in this context they referred Africa as a “sick or diseased continent”

» Political instabilities and continuous wars

» The rate of corruption in Africa is too high

» Existence of uncivilized culture.

– Therefore, according to these scholars, Africa's economic problems are a result of Africans themselves and their surrounding environment.

• Continuation…

Nationalist view

The advocates of this school of thought maintains that Africa's economic problems are a result of colonialism. It is colonialism which has brought Africa to persistent economic problems.

In supporting this view, several theories have been advanced . For example, the most famous are:

» The underdevelopment theory advocated by Walter Rodney

» The centre-periphery relation theory advocated by Paul Baran and Andre Gunda Frank.

– The nationalist school of thought was further advocated by Neo- nationalists who are based on egoism(selfish). These theoreticians blame foreigners for taking our resources. To them, they view foreigners as the main source of Africa's economic predicaments.

• Continuation….

The Marxist view

Supporters of this school of thought argues that much of our economic predicaments are a result of the integration of Africa's economy into the capitalist economy characterized by increased globalization. It is through this integration and globalization processes that wealth is siphoned from African countries, leaving them poor with a lot of economic problems.

– Therefore, the central argument of this school of thought is that Africa's economic integration into the world capitalist economy is the basic source of Africa's economic problems.

• However, each of these three views have their own weaknesses and strength. Therefore, while looking for solutions and responsive measures to Tanzania's economic predicaments, five (5) important grounds should be taken into consideration as far as our globalized world is concerned.

• Continuation…..

– The globalized world of today is dominated by mature capitalist relations. In the 21st century, these capitalist relations take the form of multileralism, foreign investments, liberalism, etc. All these capitalist relations aims at maintaining capitalism by exploiting the poor countries.

– Globalization usually puts national interests at the fore front. Therefore, whatever activities that capitalist countries performs in Africa aims at fostering their national interests and not African interests.

– There are always economic opportunities in the globalized world. If we don’t make use of our opportunities, capitalism will kill us. Therefore, we have to find ways on how to use our opportunities. If we want to compete in a globalized world, we need take advantage of our opportunities like tourism, mineral resources, water resources, agricultural land, etc.

• Continuation…..

– Importance of capital export. This is the key issue in the economic world of capitalism. The capitalists exports their capital abroad because of the fall of the rate of profit in their countries.

– Beyond that, outside their boundaries there is cheap availability of labor and competition among producers is minimal. Thus, the capital that African countries receives from capitalist countries aims at maximizing profit of the capitalists.

– Our economic predicaments can best be explained by looking at our internal dislocations, structures, relations and how these have evolved over time. All these can be looked at into three periods of Tanzanian history, that is:

• Tanzania up to the 18th century

• Tanzania under colonial rule, 19th c-1960s

• Post colonial Tanzania economic history from 1960s to the present.



• TOPIC 2: TANZANIAN SOCIETIES IN THE REMOTE PRE-CAPITALIST ERA/PRE-COLONIAL ERA

In the general process of describing and analyzing pre-colonial Tanzania economy, historians have developed three important frameworks:

– Most historians looks at Tanzanian economy up to the 18th century in terms of climatic/ geographical zones, for example the coastal region, the low plateau, mountainous region, the central plain, etc.

• Thus, the economy of Tanzanian societies by the 18th century was related to such geographical and climatic regions. In responding to the climatic and geographical challenges, Tanzanian societies developed economic activities which were favored by the surrounding environment.



• continuation….

– Other historians analyzed pre-colonial Tanzanian economy by paying particular attention to economic zones themselves. For example, the banana zone, the cattle zone, agricultural zone, and the shifting cultivation zone.

– Other economic historians adopted the approach of analyzing pre-colonial Tanzanian economy along lines of modes of production. For example:

» Communal mode of production

» Slavery mode of production

» Feudal mode of production

Out of these mode of production, then, they attempted to describe how pre-colonial Tanzanian societies were organized economically.

Through all these approaches, then, historians have been able to effectively map out the economy of pre-colonial Tanzanian societies.

• General map of Tanzanian economy by 1800

By 1800, Tanzania had a pre-capitalist economy with a lot economic influence. However, this kind of an economy reflected several elements of change or transformation from pre-capitalist economy to capitalist economy.

These elements of change were indicated by:

– The economy was integrated into the capitalist economy through mercantilism, with trade links/routes from the interior to the coast. The most common link was through the relay system.

• Through this system there was no direct control of a trade route by a particular society; the routes were broken down into pieces and each piece/route was controlled by a different society. This is what is referred to as the relay system.

• Continuation…..

– Growing importance of commodity exchange. Items which were locally produced for subsistence became commodities for exchange. For example gradually, slaves, ivory, rubber, beads, honey, foodstuffs, etc turned to be commodities. These commodities built up exchange relations as founded by barter system.

– External contacts; this was reflected by the existence of Arabs, Europeans especially Portuguese, Asians especially Indians and Iranians. The presence of these outsiders also indicated possibilities of pre-colonial economic transformation as they influenced and shaped settlement patterns, barter trade and commodity production in general.

• Continuation….

Consequences of integrating pre-colonial economy to the external economies.

– Societies became specialized on production of non-consumable goods, for example, ivory, rubber, animal skin, etc. production of these commodities aimed at meeting external demands.

– The integration marked the beginning of unequal exchange relations between pre-colonial Tanzanian societies and the foreigners, for example, selling ivory in exchange for wine.

– It was the beginning of specialization in commodity production. Some societies turned to be merchant societies, they looked for commodities and sold them. However, the question remains why these traders could not transform into capitalists?

• Continuation…..

– There was penetration of firearms which marked the beginning of barbarism in the interior.

– There was emergence of professionalism, for example, professional caravania who specialized in organizing caravans, professional potters like the Nyamwezi, Nyakyusa, Ha, etc.

– There was emergence of new culture and religion like Islam and Christianity.

– Emergence of commercial sex workers especially in Zanzibar.

• Thus, up to 1800, pre-colonial Tanzania societies had greatly changed.

• Continuation….

Climatic zones and Economic systems

Environment and its associated climate are vital in determining human economic activities in a given area. Favorable environment and climate supported a good number of human economic activities and vice versa is true.

– Favorable environment in terms of high rainfall, fertile soils, reliable water sources, free tsetse fly areas, etc, usually attracted a number of human economic activities and vice versa.

– Favored environment were able to support numerous economic activities such as permanent agriculture, cattle keeping, fishing and mixed agriculture.

– Examples per excellence of such areas included the Lake Victoria basin, the coastal lowlands, offshore of Zanzibar and Pemba, Northern highlands and some parts of the Southern highlands

• Continuation….

– Favored environment also included productive winds, especially the Monsoon winds. These winds played a central role in integrating Tanzanian societies and their economy in the external world economy resulting to the growth of coastal towns and its associated civilization, the Swahili civilization.

– On the other hand, harsh environment with poor soils, tsetse flies, poor water supply and marginal rainfall of such areas like Shinyanga, Dodoma, Singida, and Tabora could only support limited and simple human economic activities like hunting, gathering, and precarious agriculture.

– As a result of these variations in terms of climatic conditions and environment, different economic systems developed in different parts of the country. Good examples of such economic systems which featured pre-colonial Tanzania economy includes:

• Continuation….

Hunter gatherer economy

• This kind of an economy was the earliest form of economy in pre-colonial Tanzania. It was a very primitive form of economy when man had not developed the knowledge and art of cultivating and domesticating animals.

– The main preoccupations of this form of economy were hunting for wild animals, fishing, digging up roots, and collecting wild fruits and honey from the forests. The major tools for hunting and gathering were made up of stone, woods, and bones.

– Under hunting and gathering economy, the mode of appropriation was the most primitive, that is, communal appropriation of nature ( appropriation was done through hunting and gathering bands)

• Continuation….

– Typical examples of hunting and gathering remnants are:

» The Hadzabe, occupying areas around Lake Eyasi.

» The Sandawe are also said to be among the remnants, but these were able to transform from hunting and gathering economy into food production in the 19th century.



Crop cultivation economy

• It appears that in East Africa crop cultivation had started as early as 500 BC. At the beginning, the crop cultivated were mainly root and fruit crops.

– In the interlucustrine region, for example, the earliest crops were yams and palm oil. At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, grain crops such as millet and sorghum began to be grown.

• Continuation…..

– With time, people were able to adopt crop varieties in accordance with their environmental and weather conditions. Sorghum and millet proved to be suitable in areas with little and unreliable rainfall, while bananas did well in wetter and more fertile soils and cool temperatures.

– Most of the societies which engaged in pure crop cultivation were to be found in South East and Eastern parts of the country. These areas found it difficult to develop pastoralism due to the presence of livestock diseases and tsetse flies.

– Prominent crops grown in these areas includes millet, cassava, rice, peas, beans, and coconut as the basis of their subsistence.

• Continuation…

Pastoral economy

• It is not clear when pastoralism began in East Africa, although the art of domesticating animals is even older than that of cultivating crops.

• However, in the development of pastoral economy, cattle grew as the most important livestock followed by goats and sheep.

– Societies which practiced pure pastoral economy were fewer than crop cultivators. The Masai provide us with the a typical example of such societies. They occupied some parts of central and north central Tanzania.

– They did not have permanent settlement as they led a nomadic way of life with their herds of cattle in search of new grazing land and water.

• Continuation….

– Pastoralism formed the basis of the Masai subsistence, providing them with milk, blood, meat, and skin products. As they interacted with crop cultivators, they could also acquire grain through bartering their livestock or livestock products with the crop cultivators.

• Continuation….

Mixed agricultural economy

Many societies in the southern, north western, northern, north eastern and central parts of the country had developed mixed agricultural economy.

– Examples of societies which had mixed agriculture economy include the Nyakyusa, Gogo, Nyamwezi, Sukuma, people of Mara region, etc.

– Since these societies practiced both, crop cultivation and livestock keeping, their communal ownership relations were much complex.

– This is because such relations were always characterized by contradictions between crop cultivation and livestock keeping

– To show these contradictions, let us use the Nyakyusa society as a case study.



• Continuation…..

– As a result of this mixed agriculture, the Nyakyusa were able to:

• Develop agriculture practicing permanent agriculture and applying both green manure and animal manure. Bananas and beans were the most important staples.

• Livestock, especially cattle, also occupied an important position in the economy, providing meat and milk, means of exchange, dowry and accumulating wealth.

• Mixed agriculture had resulted to complex and contradictory communal ownership relations. Why?

– While land for crop cultivation was communally owned by the village communities, livestock was a common property of a clan or kinship group.

• Continuation….

– What makes matters more complicated, is the fact that village communities were based on age village called Amafumu. This means that people of the same age group lived in the same village. This implied then, that, people of the same clan or family lived in different villages, but had common ownership of livestock



Industrial economy

Tanzanian societies like other parts of the world, by the 19th century developed a variety of local industries which were predominantly in a form of handcraft industries ranging from the art of metal working, weaving, carpentry, bark cloth making and pottery.



• Continuation….

– Perhaps the development of metal working, particularly the skill of smelting and forging iron, was the most important in the development of other industries since it formed the basis of the development of other industries.

– In Tanzania as else where in Sub- Saharan Africa, the manufacture of iron tools, implements and weapons replaced those made of stone. Hence iron industry stimulated development of other industries as well as mixed agriculture since it provided different tools and weapons

• Continuation….

Conclusion:

A general observation about pre-colonial Tanzania economy indicates that:

– The majority of societies with matrilineal / matrilocal societies were those based on crop cultivation.

– Matrilineal or matrilocal societies can be defined as:

• Societies in which ancestry and descent of a person male or female are drawn from the mother and the motherly descendants. Clan heritage is based on the mother.

• A social lineage that traces its descendants via the mother’s family tree instead of the father's family tree.

– In this kind of societies, properties or wealth is often passed from mothers to daughters, the young also belongs to the mother.

– Examples of such societies includes Wamwera, Wamakonde,and Wanyakyusa.

• Continuation….

• Most patrilineal societies were based on either pastoralism or mixed agricultural economy.

– A patrilineal society can be defined as :

• Societies in which ancestry and descent of a person, male or female are drawn from the father and fatherly descendants. Clan heritage is based on the father.

• A social lineage that traces its descendants via the father’s family tree instead of the mother’s family tree.

– In these kind of societies, properties or wealth is often passed from fathers to boys , the young belongs to the father.

– Examples of such societies includes the Masai, Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Gogo, Kurya, etc.

• Continuation….

• The differences are due to the fact that:

– Under crop cultivating economy, kinship organization of labor as well as the mechanisms of redistribution of social products were based on the matrilineal clan.

– Under pastoral and mixed agricultural economies relations of labor as well as the mechanisms of redistribution of social products were based on patrilineal clan.

• Continuation…..

Regional exchange relations in Pre-colonial Tanzania

• In pre-colonial Tanzania trade transactions began at local level between neighboring clans or lager societies. For example:

– Iron smiths exchanged their goods with carpenters or basket weavers.

– Pottery makers exchanged their pots with cereals and beans from crop cultivators

– Bark cloth makers exchanged their pieces of cloth with fishermen or pastoralists from whom they obtained fish or livestock or livestock products.

• At a higher level of development in the process of specialization, exchange transaction involved long distances, giving rise to the emergence of specialized traders who stood in the middle of two or more producing zones / centers of production.

• Continuation…..

• However the conception of specialized traders should be handled with great care, why?

– Because the so called “specialized traders” were specialized in a seasonal sense, that is they were involved in trade transactions mainly during the dry season, while during the rainy season, they were actively involved in agricultural production. In other words, they were not pre-occupied with trading activities throughout the year.

• It is obvious that, the emergence of traders, whether seasonal or permanent, facilitated the growth of regional and inter-regional trade net works of trade.

• Continuation…

Trading networks in Pre-colonial Tanzania

In Pre-colonial Tanzania, a number of different trade routes can be identified:

The Yao trade system:

One of the earliest known regional and inter-regional trade network was conducted by the Yao traders.

– Coverage:

• The Yao trade system constituted a wide area covering the southern parts of Tanzania as far as northern Mozambique, and it extended to as far as east as the region around lake Nyasa and pats of Central Africa.

• Continuation…

– Periodization:

• The Yao traders had developed trade in iron and iron tools as early as the beginning of the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, the Yao were importing beads and other commodities from the coast to the interior.

• The skill of smelting and forging iron ( shaping heated iron into different shape to get metal implements) had also been developed within the Yao society by iron smith known as the Cisi.

– Commodities:

• Apart from iron and iron tools, the Yao also traded tobacco, pots, and salt. Yao women had developed the tradition of pottery, producing considerably high quality pots, the surplus was exported to neighboring societies.

• Continuation…

The South western Trade system

Another important trading network had developed in the South western parts of Tanzania.

– Coverage:

This trade network covered a zone surrounding the northern parts of lake Nyasa. Here most of the known traders came from among the Kinga people who resided in the present day Makete district in Iringa region.

– Commodities:

Among the Kinga and their neighbors, the Pangwa and the Bena, the skill of smelting and forging iron had greatly developed. Thus, the Kinga traders became important exporters of iron tools from Ukinga, Ubena, and Upangwa to other neighboring societies like the Nyakyusa and the Sangu and the Cisi.

• Continuation…

From the Cisi, they obtained pots as the Cisi were famous pot makers exporting some of those pots to Malawi.

Further more, the Kinga traders were to obtain bark and cotton cloth from the Fipa. Beans and dried banana from the Nyakyusa, cattle and animal products from the Sangu.

The Interlucustrine trade system

• For a number of centuries in the western and northern western regions of Tanzania had developed the so called Interlucustrine trade system. It has been observed that, around lakes Tanganyika and Rukwa, relatively strong trade links had grown.

– The most important trade items were salt and iron. Gradually, the Nyamwezi and Sumbwa traders emerged dominating the trade networks in the region.

• Continuation….

– In the late 18th century, the Nyamwezi and Sumbwa traders expanded their trade transactions as far west as Katanga, in eastern Zaire, as far north as Buhaya, Karagwe, Buganda, and Bunyoro.

– By the beginning of the 19th century, they were able to visit the Indian ocean coastal hinterlands in the east.

Commodities:

– Salt from Uvinza became an important commodity. It was bartered for copper from Katanga, robusta coffee(originating in Kaffa, Ethiopia since the 800AD) from Buhaya, bark cloth from Buganda and iron hoes from Bunyoro.

– Iron hoes from Bunyoro were in turn carried by both, the Nyamwezi and Banyoro traders to various parts of the interlucustrine region. Trade in iron ores was so important that at a certain stage, hoes assumed the function of medium of exchange

• Continuation…

The North Eastern Trade System

In the North Eastern region of Tanzania, there also developed another important trade system.

– Periodization:

Already by the 18th century, trade links had been established between the Shambaa, the Pare, the Kamba, the Masai, the Mbugu and the Chagga, just to mention a few of them.

– Commodities:

The main items of exchange included:

• Iron and iron tools mainly from

– The Shana iron smith among the Pare

– The Turi iron forgers from among the Shambaa

– The Mamba iron smiths among the Chagga.

• Continuation….

• Pots from the Pare were traded to the Chagga, the Shambaa and the Kamba.

• The Chagga exchanged their spears as well as beans, banana, and yams with livestock from the Masai and Mbugu pastoralists.

• Traders from among the Shambaa linked this regional trade with the coast by exporting tobacco and skins to the Zigua, the Bondei, and the Digo people. Likewise, the Kamba linked this trade network with the coastal trade around the coastal hinterland of Kenya.

• Continuation….

Medium of exchange which facilitated exchange system in Pre-colonial Tanzania.

• The most common system of exchange in the trade networks in pre-colonial Tanzania was mainly in the form of barter. Barter system involved the exchange of goods without the use of money or currency or any form of medium of exchange.

• However, as the trade systems became more complex and involving longer distance, it became necessary to make use some different forms of medium of exchange to facilitate simpler and faster trade transactions.

• Thus, by the beginning of the 19th century, medium of exchange like iron tools, beads, cloth, salt, copper, had began to be used widely.

• Continuation…..

Conclusion:

• The development of regional and interregional trade systems in Tanzania had by the 19th century, reached the stage of long distance trade.

• However, colonial historians have argued that, the development of long distance trade in East Africa and Tanzania in particular, has been mainly associated with the 19th century Zanzibar and the coastal based trade system, dominated by Arabs and other foreign traders.

• The above colonial view is false. This is so because, long before the establishment of the Arabs or externally dominated trade from the 1830s, as it has been described in the course of this discussion, long distance trade systems had already evolved, such as those dominated by the Yao, the Nyamwezi, the Sumbwa, and the Kamba traders.





• Continuation….



• The penetration of Zanzibar and coastal trade systems into the interior were, in fact, greatly facilitated by the already internally based long distance trade infrastructures.

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