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THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF THE COPAL TRADE IN THE TANZANIAN COASTAL HINTERLAND, c. 1820–1905*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2007

THADDEUS SUNSERI
THADDEUS SUNSERI
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
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Abstract

Between 1830 and 1880 copal was the major trade commodity from mainland Tanzania apart from ivory. Unlike ivory, copal was a product of a distinct environment, the lowland forests of the East African coastal hinterland. This region's copal was the best in the world for making high-value carriage varnish. It therefore found a ready market in the West, especially New England, whose traders brought cotton textiles to trade with East Africans for copal. The monopolization by hinterland polities of the copal–cloth trade nexus enabled them to consolidate politically as a sub-entrepôt of the Zanzibar commercial state. After 1880 a global demand for wild rubber, a product of far more diverse landscapes, posed a threat to the copal economy, and in part ushered in German colonialism. New colonial tax, labor and conservationist policies spelled the decline of the copal economy and its communities as they lost access to the coastal forests.

Keywords

Tanzaniaenvironmenttrade
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , July 2007 , pp. 201 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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