Page 165 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1942 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

created a new market for Saharan salt, urban craft goods, example, their instruments of production, and they could
and trans-Saharan imports. also own slaves (just as slaves could own slaves). Their
property was their own and not the rulers, which gives a
Labor Control: distinct twist to the condition of servitude in the Wagadu
The Somono and the Zanj Empire.The specialized economic groups—the Somono
In the context of an expanding intercontinental bullion and the Zanj—exercised monopolies over their specific
market, Wagadu sought to exploit more effectively and activities and occupations, in return for which they paid
systematically the natural riches of the Niger River, prin- tribute to the Wagadu rulers.
cipally through the development of the fishing industry,
the hunting of aquatic animals, and the trade in these Long-Distance Trade
resources.The expanding bullion market was connected The Middle Niger Valley was known to medieval Muslim
to the general expansion of long-distance commerce, geographers as the “Land of the Wangara.” In this con-
including the trans-Saharan trade. Urbanization (popu- text, the name Wangara refers to the principal gold mer-
lation growth in established towns and the founding of chants of the empire (Wangara is a generic name given to
new ones) and the growth of urban crafts were crucial long-distance traders, specifically gold traders; hence it
both to the expansion of trade and efforts to exploit the refers to an occupational/economic group and an accom-
riches of the Niger River. During the eleventh and twelfth panying social status) and to the towns they inhabited.
centuries, new occupational groups of free-status people The Wangara trade network covered an immense area,
known collectively as the Somono were created. Drawn joining the entire Niger Valley into a single commercial-
from the ranks of the bonded and war captives, the craft system, running from the goldfields in the Upper
Somono were settled in new villages or in preexisting Niger basin in the west to the Lakes Region in the east.
ones. In obligatory service to the Wagadu ruler, they spe- In addition to bullion, this system distributed a wide
cialized in river transport as boatmen and in boat build- range of products—salt, copper, iron, craft goods, pro-
ing, aquatic hunting, and the production of fish and fish duce, fish, and so on—both within and beyond the
oil. In return for their obligatory services to the ruler, the empire. Exporting perhaps 13 to 18 metric tons of gold
Somono were granted, by the ruler, a monopoly over cer- to North Africa under the most favorable conditions and
tain economic activities within the Middle Niger Valley. If perhaps 4 to 9 metric tons in less favorable circum-
the ruler did not protect their monopoly, they were no stances, it was responsible for ensuring the empire’s
longer obligated to provide him with their services. place in the international bullion market.
A concomitant development was the creation of a
number of hereditary slave groups.They included black- Islam and the Empire
smiths, cultivators, fishermen, herders, masons, armed The history of Islam in theWagadu empire can be divided
retainers, messengers, and boatmen. Known collectively into two phases. The first phase (eighth–eleventh cen-
as the Zanj, they were royal property and were in lifelong turies) belongs to Kharijite Islam; the second (eleventh–
service to the king. In this period and later there were dif- twelfth centuries) to Sunni Maliki Islam. Muslims of the
ferent categories of servitude in the western Sudan, and Ibadi stream of Kharijite Islam introduced Islam into
some of these categories do not have counterparts in Wagadu in the eighth century. From that date until the
other areas of the world. The Zanj consisted of special- twelfth century Ibadi merchants and clerics settled in the
ized economic groups, each of which was endogamous. empire’s urban centers, trading and proselytizing.The ear-
They were royal property in the sense that they were obli- liest converts were the Wangara gold merchants. Ibadi-
gated to pay “tribute” to the rulers in the form of eco- Wangara relations were not only commercial; they were
nomic and service activities. They owned property, for also scholarly. Between the ninth and eleventh century the