| # | Polity | Trading Emporia | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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Fairs and small markets would travel to areas without market towns. However this became much less common by the end of the period when infrastructure and transport was creating an increasingly connected and convenient trade system.
[1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 362-63) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U |
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Trading emporiums have not been mentioned in the sources consulted
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The Sonoran Desert people traded with their neighbours and over time their region became a cross road in the trade system. On route ran from northern Mexico, to the Tucson area and to the Gila River Valley. Therefore it could be inferred that emporium were established during trading seasons.
[1]
[1]: “The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (U.S. National Park Service),”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HZ95455H |
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Fairs; markets. “In the 1840s, the Pest market fairs attracted some 30,000 participants.”
[1]
[1]: (Judson 2016: 112) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW |
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Astrakhan: Located near the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan was a significant trading emporium, especially for trade with Persia and Central Asia. It was a key center for the exchange of goods like silk, furs, and grains.
Arkhangelsk (Archangel): Situated in the north on the White Sea, Arkhangelsk was one of the earliest and most important trading ports in Russia before the establishment of Saint Petersburg. It was crucial for trade with Western Europe, particularly England and the Netherlands. Nizhny Novgorod: Located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers, Nizhny Novgorod was famous for its fairs and served as a major trading hub connecting the vast regions of Siberia and Central Asia with the European part of Russia. Odessa: On the Black Sea coast, Odessa emerged as a vital trading port in the late 18th century. It became a major gateway for the export of grains and other agricultural products from the fertile regions of Ukraine and southern Russia. Riga and Tallinn: In the Baltic region, these cities were significant trading emporia, facilitating trade with Northern and Western Europe. [1] [1]: Nancy Shields Kollmann, The Russian Empire 1450-1801 (Oxford University Press, 2017) Zotero link: XQKZ97AS |
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Ports such as London and Dover housed trading emporiums for imports and exports to Europe. Ipswich in East Anglia was a significant trading emporium from the early seventh century.
[1]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 50, 65) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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Travelling merchants.
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trading emporiums would have been present along the coastal regions for foreign import and exporting.
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British trading posts such as Gibraltar became famous for their emporiums and immense amounts of imports and exports that it traded across the Empire.
[1]
[1]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 306) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ |
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Astrakhan: Located near the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan was a significant trading emporium, especially for trade with Persia and Central Asia. It was a key center for the exchange of goods like silk, furs, and grains.
Arkhangelsk (Archangel): Situated in the north on the White Sea, Arkhangelsk was one of the earliest and most important trading ports in Russia before the establishment of Saint Petersburg. It was crucial for trade with Western Europe, particularly England and the Netherlands. Nizhny Novgorod: Located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers, Nizhny Novgorod was famous for its fairs and served as a major trading hub connecting the vast regions of Siberia and Central Asia with the European part of Russia. Odessa: On the Black Sea coast, Odessa emerged as a vital trading port in the late 18th century. It became a major gateway for the export of grains and other agricultural products from the fertile regions of Ukraine and southern Russia. Riga and Tallinn: In the Baltic region, these cities were significant trading emporia, facilitating trade with Northern and Western Europe. [1] [1]: Nancy Shields Kollmann, The Russian Empire 1450-1801 (Oxford University Press, 2017) Zotero link: XQKZ97AS |
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Ports such as London and Dover housed trading emporiums for imports and exports to Europe. Ipswich in East Anglia was a significant trading emporium from the early seventh century onwards.
[1]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 50, 65) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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"Internal market centers developed in the interior as a consequence at the towns of Katimbo in Biriwa Limba, Koindu in Kissi country, Falaba in the Solima Yalunka kingdom, and at other centers."
[1]
[1]: (Fyle and Foray 2006: xxxii) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM. |
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The following quote suggests the presence of polity-owned trading emporia. "Ominously for Kaabu’s Mandinka overlords, when the Frenchman Gaspard Mollien travelled through Futa Toro in 1818 he was informed of a "sacred alliance" of Muslims in Futa Toro, Bundu, and the Fula almamate in Futa Jallon to defeat "pagans" and compel them to submit to Islam. One may suppose that domination of trade routes and markets was a linked objective."
[1]
[1]: (Brooks 2007: 56) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TT7FC2RX/collection. |
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" There are no indications of far- or middle-distance exchange or trade contacts (apart from a few stone raw materials that do not occur locally and the depiction of a sea shell on the head of a male terracotta sculpture), no signs of communal construction activities, and no preserved facilities to store agricultural surplus. [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 253) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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The following suggests that the only type of site that has been identified are homesteads. “For the first 400 years of the settlement’s history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo’s house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 27, 32) |
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" There are no indications of far- or middle-distance exchange or trade contacts (apart from a few stone raw materials that do not occur locally and the depiction of a sea shell on the head of a male terracotta sculpture), no signs of communal construction activities, and no preserved facilities to store agricultural surplus. [...] It has to be considered that the preservation of features in Nok sites is generally poor and that the amount of data is not too large and regionally restricted to a rather small key study area."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 253) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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Noted in passing, but without clear explanation of its presence, in Schoeman. “According to historical records the shifting Mutapa state capitals, as well as the Massapa trading market, were located close to Mount Fura in northern Zimbabwe.”
[1]
[1]: (Schoeman 2017) Maria Schoeman, “Political Complexity North and South of the Zambezi River,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedias Online (2017). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4UBRHU5H/item-details |
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“From the seventh century onwards till the Cōḷa occupation these commercial ties assumed ever-increasing importance on account of the profits available from the island’s foreign trade, and the importance of Mahatittha in the trade of the Indian Ocean. Up to the eve of the Cōḷa invasions in the tenth century, internal trade at least had been largely in the hands of the Sinhalese merchants who dominated the main market towns and were granted special charters by the kings. During the period of Cōḷa rule in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Indian merchant alliances displaced these Sinhalese merchants, especially along the principal trade routes of the Rājarṭa. But their ascendancy was of limited duration and did not survive the restoration of Sinhalese power.”
[1]
“Trade, as it touched the mass of the people, was of a humbler kind: the exchange by barter, or by a limited use of currency (kahavaṇu and purāṇas or eldlings), of the surplus grains at their disposal, and of manufactured goods and services. This internal trade in the early Anurādhapura period was well-organised. Among the donors of caves in the early inscriptions are guilds (pugiyana) and members (jete and anujete) of such guilds. There are occasional reference in the Mahāvaṁsa to caravan traffic to and from central highlands in search of spices and articles such as ginger. Such caravans consisted of wagons and pack animals. Apart from these there must have been some limited local trade in cloth and a few luxury articles.”
[2]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 43-44) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection [2]: (De Silva, 1981, 44) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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Inferred from the following quote “One of the most notable features in the economic history of the period extending from the ninth century to the end of the Polonnaruva kingdom was the expansion of trade within the country. The date available at is present is too meagre for an analysis of the development of this trade, or indeed for a detailed description of its special characteristics, but there is evidence of the emergence of merchant ‘corporations’, the growth of market towns linked by well-known trade routes, and the development of a local, that is to say, regional coinage. Tolls and other levies on this trade yielded a considerable income to the state. There was at the same time a substantial revenue from customs dues on external trade although the data we have is too scanty to compute with any precision the duties levied on the various export and import commodities. Sri Lanka was a vital link in the great trade routes between east and west, of importance in ‘transit’ trade due to her advantageous geographical location, and in the ‘terminal’ trade on account of her natural products such as gems, pearls and timber. Apart from the traditional ports of the north and north-west of the island, and on the east coast, those of the west coast too became important in this trade. Besides, the island’s numerous bays, anchorages and road-steads offered adequate shelter for the sailing ships of this period. Trade in the Indian Ocean at this time was dominated by the Arabs, who were among the leading and most intrepid sailors of the era…Luxury articles were the main commodities to this category belonged Sri Lanka’s gems and pearls.”
[1]
[1]: (De Silva 1981, 71-72) De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: C. Hurst & Company, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4R6DQVHZ/collection |
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“Trade between the north and the southwest passed through Jimma, much of it carried on by Jimma merchants. Through Hirmata (where the modern town of Jimma is situated) passed caravans to the southwest (to Kafa, Maji, Gimira); the south (Kullo, Konta, Uba, and elsewhere); to the west (Gomma, Guma, Gera Ilubabor); and north to Limmu, Nonno, Shoa, Wollo, and Gondar. Jimma was thus a busy crossroads, and it received cultural influences and immigrants from all of these directions and sources.”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2001, 49) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection |
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“By the fourteenth century the significance of this Somali port for the Ethiopian interior had increased so much so that all the Muslim communities established along the trade routes into central and southeastern Ethiopia were commonly known in Egypt and Syria by the collective term of ‘the country of Zeila’.”
[1]
Within the interior of the Adal Sultanate there were various trade links and settlements on caravan routes. “Outside the highland Muslim principalities of Ifat, Dawaro, Bali and later Adal, and beyond the isolated settlements along the caravan routes, these Ethiopian Bedouin lived in a world entirely of their own.”
[2]
[1]: (Tamrat, 2008, 139) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list [2]: (Tamrat 2008, 146) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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“On the return trip from his first voyage to India, Vasco da Gama simply passed by Mogadishu in 1499 without making any attempt to control it. And the Portuguese description show that it was still in a very strong and prosperous condition. Rich commercial ships were anchored in its harbour, and it was in regular and active contact with India and Arabia. A list of its exports, given in the account of a Portuguese writer within the second decade of the sixteenth century, includes ‘much gold, ivory, wax, cereals, rice, horses, and fruits’.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 59) Tamrat, Taddesse, 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present as Habr Yunis had caravan routes and thriving trade networks. The population numbers are an approximation and do not represent a definitive number. “The dimensions of Zeila Burton compares to Suez, sufficient to hold a few thousand inhabitants, and provided with six mosques, a dozen large white-washed stone houses, and two hundred or more thatched mud – and-wattle huts. The ancient wall of coral rubble and mud defending the town was no longer fortified with guns, and in many places had become dilapidated. Drinking water had to be fetched from wells four miles from the town. Yet trade was thriving: to the north caravans plied the Danakil country, while to the west the lands of the ‘Ise and Gadabursi clans were traversed as far as Harar, and beyond Harar to the Gurage country in Abyssinia. The main exports were slaves, ivory hides, horns, ghee, and guns. On the coast itself Arab divers were active collecting sponge cones and provisions were cheap.”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2002, 34) Lewis, Ioan M. 2002. A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa. Athens: Ohio University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KHB7VSJK/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present. “Like the town of Jimma, Agaro [Haggaro] was located on major trade routes leading to different regions. Consequently, it rapidly developed into a big trade centre visited by merchants coming from regions as far as eastern Wallagga, Gojjam, and Muslim Jabartis from northern Ethiopia.”
[1]
[1]: (Benti 2016, 41) Benti, Getahun. 2016. Urban Growth in Ethiopia, 1887-1974: From the Foundation of Finfinnee to the Demise of the First Imperial Era. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C2UNK7RK/collection |
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The capital Afgoy was situated at the crossroads of major caravan routes suggesting that there were trading emporia in the Geledi Sultanate. “Afgoy was the crossroads of caravans bringing ivory, leopard skins, and aloe in exchange for foreign fabrics sugar, dates, and firearms.”
[1]
[1]: (Mukhtar 2003, 28) Mukhtar, Mohamed H. 2003. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Mukhtar/titleCreatorYear/items/J8WZB6VI/item-list |
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Can be inferred from the existence of long-distance caravan routes “It was on the long-distance caravan routes to these regions that the most viable Muslim communities were established.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 134) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia was likely present due to long-distance trade. “In contrast, Harlaa was at least partially Islamised and its inhabitants participated in long distance trade in the 12th -13th centuries.”
[1]
[1]: (Insoll 2017, 208) Insoll, Timothy. 2017. ‘First Footsteps in Archaeology of Harar, Ethiopia’. Journal of Islamic Archaeology. Vol 4:2. Pp 189-215. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/VQ38B374/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present as the Hadiya Sultanate contributed to the slave trade and imported slaves into the Sultanate. “Hadeya was much involved in the slave trade, for it imported slaves from the ‘country of infidels’, presumably nearby Christian or ‘pagan lands’.”
[1]
[1]: (Pankhurst 1997, 79) Pankhurst, Richard. 1997. The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/F5TE8HH5/collection |
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Conflict between the Ifat and the Christian Ethiopian Kingdoms also revolved around trade routes. Trade routes suggest the existence of trading emporia. “We have already seen that Christian Ethiopia had started to make use of the caravan routes to Zeila by the middle of the thirteenth century. The rise of the ‘Solomonic dynasty’, and the resultant shift of the centre of southern Amhara and Shoa, gave a particular significance to the Zeila routes in which the Christian kings began to show an ever increasing interest.”
[1]
[1]: (Tamrat 2008, 143) Tamrat, Taddesse. 2008. ‘Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Horn’ In the Cambridge History of Africa: c. 1050 – c.1600 vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 98-182. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Tamrat/titleCreatorYear/items/A68FCWWI/item-list |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia was likely present. “The medieval capital of central Eritrea, Debarwa is situated in the fertile Tselima district of Seraye on the headwaters of the Mareb, where the trade route from Hamasien to northern Tigray cross the river. This strategic location made it a caravan stop and regional market in the 15th century, when it was chosen as the capital for the Bahre Neashi, the Ethiopian-appointed governor of Mar-eb Mallash.”
[1]
[1]: (Connell and Killion 2011, 162) Connell, Dan and Killion, Tom. 2011. Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. Second Edition. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/24ZMGPAA/collection |
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“The Sennar caravans had certainly been operating since the emergence of the Funj Sultanate early in the sixteenth century, but by the end of the eighteenth century they were less important than the Darfur caravans.”
[1]
[1]: (Holt 2008, 22) Holt, P.M. 2008. ‘Egypt, the Funj and Darfur’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c.1790. Edited by Richard Grey. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/WC9FQBRM/collection |
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The quote below suggest that trade emporia were likely present. During the reign of Gawi Nechocho (1845CE -1854 CE) new trade routes were established. “It is said that, because of his daughter’s marriage to the king of Gera, a trade route was opened up to Gondar.”
[1]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 279) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
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The quote below suggest that trade emporia were likely present. During the reign of Gawi Nechocho (1845CE -1854 CE) new trade routes were established. “It is said that, because of his daughter’s marriage to the king of Gera, a trade route was opened up to Gondar.”
[1]
[1]: (Orent 1970, 279) Orent, Amnon. 1970. ‘Refocusing on the History of Kafa Prior to 1897: A Discussion of Political Processes’. African Historical Studies. Vol. 3:2. Pp 263-293. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2A389XGK/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present in the Kingdom of Gumma. “Trade between the north and the southwest passed through Jimma, much of it carried on by Jimma merchants. Through Hirmata (where the modern town of Jimma is situated) passed caravans to the southwest (to Kafa, Maji, Gimira); the south (Kullo, Konta, Uba, and elsewhere); to the west (Gomma, Guma, Gera Ilubabor); and north to Limmu, Nonno, Shoa, Wollo, and Gondar.”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2001, 49) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present. “Moreover, Harar was the most important centre of Islamic learning in the Horn of Africa, and during the eighteenth century its caravan merchants became an important factor in the revival of Islam in southern Ethiopia.”
[1]
[1]: (Abir 2008, 552) Abir, Mordecai. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c. 1600 – c. 1790. Edited by Richard Gray. Vol 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp 537-577. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Abir/titleCreatorYear/items/JHH9VH96/item-list |
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The below quote suggests the presence of trading emporia as there was a vast caravan trade into the interior of Ethiopia. “The caravan trade followed two main routes: from Massawa through Adowa, Gondar and Gojjam and from Tajura and Zeila through Awsa or Harar and then Shoa.”
[1]
[1]: (Rubenson 2008, 83) Rubenson, Sven. 2008. ‘Ethiopia and the Horn’ In The Cambridge History of Africa c.1790 – c.1870. Edited by John E. Flint. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/Sven/titleCreatorYear/items/VRU64Q8P/item-list |
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"Of the various axes of Ifè.’s interaction sphere, none was as important as the northern axis. This strategic area linked Ilé-Ifè with the trade termini on the River Niger and gave the Yorùbá world access to the commercial traffic between the Western Sudan and the Mediterranean. Saharan copper and salt, as well as Mediterranean and Chinese silk and other clothing materials, were entering the Yorùbá region from across the Niger by the eleventh or twelfth century in exchange for sundry rain forest goods, of which Ifè glass beads and ivory were the most highly prized. Therefore, early in its development, Ilé-Ifè employed military and diplomatic strategies to open up and protect the trade routes to the River Niger, especially between Moshi and Osin tributaries. These efforts are encapsulated in the oral traditions regarding the activities of Òrànmíyàn, who is said to have launched military campaigns in the River Niger area. The stories of this legendary figure reveal Ilé-Ifè’s efforts to secure the safe passage of its exports and imports across the river. Indeed, Ifè trading stations were located in this zone of trading termini, in addition to several Yorùbá-speaking communities that occupied a 310-kilometer stretch of land on both banks of River Niger for most of the Classical period. This was a zone of transition in which trading stations, and port towns and villages received exports from Ilé-Ifè and other parts of the Yorùbá world and imports from the Sudan."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 115) |
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The Kingdom of Allada was a major exporter of slaves through its ports on the Bight of Benin. There were traders and middlemen negotiating sales of slaves with European traders at least in these ports. “The section of the West African coast between the Volta and Lagos Rivers, known to Europeans as the ’Slave Coast’, was, as its name implies, a major source of slaves for the Atlantic trade. In all, this area probably supplied something approaching two million slaves, between one-fifth and one-sixth of total trans-Atlantic exports. Initially, the principal supplier of slaves here was the kingdom of Allada, but in the late seventeenth century the main focus of the trade shifted west to Whydah, and during the eighteenth century primacy in the supply of slaves passed to the hinterland kingdom of Dahomey, which conquered both Allada and Whydah in the 1720s.”
[1]
“These accounts show that the king of Allada not only received payments from each European ship for permission to begin trading (to the value of fifty slaves, according to d’Elbee), but also asserted rights of pre-emption, all imported goods being taken to him first to allow him to choose whatever he wanted. Later sources indicate that the king also received an export duty on each slave sold, and that royal permission was required for the sale of slaves by any of his subjects. One of the chiefs of Allada, who apparently served as an intermediary between the European traders and the king, had the title ’Chief of the White Men’, or Yevogan.”
[2]
“Initially, the Dahomians traded both at Jakin, the port of Allada, and at Whydah, but in 1732 Agaja destroyed Jakin and the Dahomian slave trade was thereafter concentrated at Whydah.”
[3]
[1]: Law, Robin. “Slave-Raiders and Middlemen, Monopolists and Free-Traders: The Supply of Slaves for the Atlantic Trade in Dahomey c. 1715-1850.” The Journal of African History, vol. 30, no. 1, 1989, pp. 45–68: 46. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DT865EHP/collection [2]: Law, Robin. “Royal Monopoly and Private Enterprise in the Atlantic Trade: The Case of Dahomey.” The Journal of African History, vol. 18, no. 4, 1977, pp. 555–77: 557. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/B7B2RSQ5/collection [3]: Law, Robin. “Slave-Raiders and Middlemen, Monopolists and Free-Traders: The Supply of Slaves for the Atlantic Trade in Dahomey c. 1715-1850.” The Journal of African History, vol. 30, no. 1, 1989, pp. 45–68: 50. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/DT865EHP/collection |
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"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977)."
[1]
Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: "Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known."
[2]
Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable.
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 151-152) [2]: (Law 1977: 33) |
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“One of the most striking features of the caliphal system was the emergence of new political centres, many of which also became centres of agricultural production, manufacturing and trade. Sokoto itself was transformed from a small hamlet in 1809 into one of the largest cities in the Central Sudan, with a population of about 100,000 by the end of the century. The city became noted for its heterogeneous wards and its many celebrated artisans, traders and scholars.30 Many other cities such as Gusau, Kaura-Namoda, Gwadabawa and Illela grew up in the metropolitan region, all with substantial populations drawn from all parts of Western and Central Sudan and Sahel. Outside the Rima Basin, several new towns were built, Bauchi, Ja-lingo and Yola to name but three, all of which grew into large cosmopolitan settlements which drew traders, artisans and peasant cultivators from all over their respective regions.”
[1]
[1]: Chafe, Kabiru Sulaiman. “Challenges to the Hegemony of the Sokoto Caliphate: A Preliminary Examination.” Paideuma, vol. 40, 1994, pp. 99–109: 104. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZANHCUFH/collection |
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“One partnership in the 1790s united a trader operating at Buna and Kong, in the middle Volta basin, with another at Katsina, and the latter even had commercial ties in Borno. This is one of the earliest known examples of a practice which appears to have been common among many nineteenth- century merchants in such places as Zinder and Kano. Finally, brokerage firms in Kano, which handled the sale of various salts, provided banking facilities for their clients. These firms, some of which are still in operation after at least two hundred years of business, stored cowries obtained through salt sales while their Borno clients travelled to neighbouring towns to purchase goods. These reserves provided the salt brokers (Hausa: fatoma) with the ability to guarantee short term credit in the transactions which they managed. In some instances, too, the firms extended goods on credit to distributors who sold salt in the streets and villages.”
[1]
[1]: Lovejoy, P. E. (1974). Interregional Monetary Flows in the Precolonial Trade of Nigeria. The Journal of African History, 15(4), 563–585: 582. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/58ASG655/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present. “Many of these slaves must have moved north along the trans-Saharan route which ran along the Atlantic littoral up to Wad Nun in the Moroccan Sahara the point at which the slaves moved into the control of Moroccan traders. In the late 1840s, a trade spur opened that linked the Kajoor with Wad Nun via the Adrar and apparently supplemented the costal route.”
[1]
[1]: (Webb Jr 1993, 244) Webb Jr, James L.A. 1993. ‘The Horse and Slave Trade between the Western Sahara and Senegambia.’ Journal of African History. Vol. 34:2. Pp 221-246. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/JDZFX3SC/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia may also have been present “All three capitals: Kahone, Diakhao, and Lambaye, were established in the mid-sixteenth century when the fertile coastal provinces of the Empire of Jolof- an inland empire established in the thirteenth century-gained independence […] They prospered as independent kingdoms during the mercantilist era and, together, constituted the ‘Peanut Basin’ that developed during the colonial era. They maintained trade relations with the European and Eura-african merchants who frequented their port cities, and diplomatic relations with the Dutch, French and English/British chartered companies that claimed to monopolize trade along their coasts.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia may also have been present “All three capitals: Kahone, Diakhao, and Lambaye, were established in the mid-sixteenth century when the fertile coastal provinces of the Empire of Jolof- an inland empire established in the thirteenth century-gained independence […] They prospered as independent kingdoms during the mercantilist era and, together, constituted the ‘Peanut Basin’ that developed during the colonial era. They maintained trade relations with the European and Eura-african merchants who frequented their port cities, and diplomatic relations with the Dutch, French and English/British chartered companies that claimed to monopolize trade along their coasts.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia may also have been present “All three capitals: Kahone, Diakhao, and Lambaye, were established in the mid-sixteenth century when the fertile coastal provinces of the Empire of Jolof- an inland empire established in the thirteenth century-gained independence […] They prospered as independent kingdoms during the mercantilist era and, together, constituted the ‘Peanut Basin’ that developed during the colonial era. They maintained trade relations with the European and Eura-african merchants who frequented their port cities, and diplomatic relations with the Dutch, French and English/British chartered companies that claimed to monopolize trade along their coasts.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia may also have been present “All three capitals: Kahone, Diakhao, and Lambaye, were established in the mid-sixteenth century when the fertile coastal provinces of the Empire of Jolof- an inland empire established in the thirteenth century-gained independence … They prospered as independent kingdoms during the mercantilist era and, together, constituted the ‘Peanut Basin’ that developed during the colonial era. They maintained trade relations with the European and Eura-african merchants who frequented their port cities, and diplomatic relations with the Dutch, French and English/British chartered companies that claimed to monopolize trade along their coasts.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia may also have been present “All three capitals: Kahone, Diakhao, and Lambaye, were established in the mid-sixteenth century when the fertile coastal provinces of the Empire of Jolof- an inland empire established in the thirteenth century-gained independence … They prospered as independent kingdoms during the mercantilist era and, together, constituted the ‘Peanut Basin’ that developed during the colonial era. They maintained trade relations with the European and Eura-african merchants who frequented their port cities, and diplomatic relations with the Dutch, French and English/British chartered companies that claimed to monopolize trade along their coasts.”
[1]
[1]: (Bigon and Ross 2020, 42) Bigon, Liora and Ross, Eric. 2020. Grid Planning in the Urban Design Practices of Senegal. London: Springer. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/MM67I638/collection |
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The following quote from 1686 CE suggests that trading emporia were likely present due to the vast trade networks within the Kingdom of Waalo. “The trading was generally conducted in Biert, in Maca, which La Courbe calls: ‘The stopover of the little junket, is a stopover or port on the river at eight leagues from our settlement.’ Trading also occurred at Bouscar, situated at twelved locations in Saint-Louis, forming a cluster of several villages in a great plain on the edge of the water. This commerce took place primarily at the crossroads of the desert which was the major market of Waalo and of which the European voyagers provided numerous descriptions.”
[1]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 64) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection |
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The following quote from 1686 CE suggests that trading emporia were likely present due to the vast trade networks within the Kingdom of Waalo. “The trading was generally conducted in Biert, in Maca, which La Courbe calls: ‘The stopover of the little junket, is a stopover or port on the river at eight leagues from our settlement.’ Trading also occurred at Bouscar, situated at twelved locations in Saint-Louis, forming a cluster of several villages in a great plain on the edge of the water. This commerce took place primarily at the crossroads of the desert which was the major market of Waalo and of which the European voyagers provided numerous descriptions.”
[1]
[1]: (Barry 2012, 64) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9KV5MEKN/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present. “The Senegambia’s link to the expansive interior trade incorporated several commercial complexes that were connected to the major empires in West Africa besides Mali to the north and Jolof to the east, allowing the flow of a variety of foreign commodities into the region. Part of this conglomerate of networks made use of the Gambia River to gain salt, rice, grasses, and dried fish that would be bartered for iron, cloth, kola, and in all likelihood luxury items (a notable portion of which were of European origin) that until that time could only be obtained from interior markets.”
[1]
[1]: (Gijanto 2016, 31-32) Gijanto, Liza. 2016. The Life of Trade: Events and Happenings in the Niumi’s Atlantic Center. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7XNBIF95/collection |
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“Hitherto, the trading season had been limited to the month immediately following the rains. When the season ended the traders burned their huts and returned home. The peanut trade however, gave rise to the practice of traders advancing goods on credit to subtraders who remained in business all year long.”
[1]
[1]: (Klein 1972, 425) Klein, Martin A. 1972. ‘Social and Economic Factors in the Muslim Revolution in Senegambia.’ The Journal of Africa History. Vol. 13:3. Pp 419-441. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZJRN8UJ8/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia was likely present. “The main trade routes throughout this period of history were the trans-Saharan caravan routes of the interior through which gold, salt, and slaves passed.”
[1]
[1]: (McLaughlin 2008, 83) McLaughlin, Fiona. 2008. ‘Senegal: The Emergence of a National Lingua Franca’. In Languages and National Identity in Africa. Edited by Andrew Simpson. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7VBFQ96V/collection |
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The following quote refers to the 17th century, and suggests that a significant commercial circuit only emerged in the 19th; it is also unclear whether this circuit fell under the jurisdiction of this polity. "There probably were no markets in central Rwanda and it is not known whether the commercial circuit that existed north of Lake Kivu during the nineteenth century was already in place or not."
[1]
[1]: (Vansina 2004: 30) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection. |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present due to the presence of trunk roads and travelling merchants who used these routes. “Transport of commodities was a problem in those days. Roads within urban limits were maintained by local authorities like ur or sabha. Trunk roads were not officially the concern of anybody but were maintained by their users especially traders. We hear of toll-gates and accountants who maintained the accounts of the tolls. The travelling merchants had their guards in arms.”
[1]
[1]: (Soundaram 2011, 77) Soundaram, A. 2011. ‘The Characteristic Features of Early Medieval Tamil Society: An Overview’ In History of People and Their Environs: Essays in Honour of Prof. B.S. Chanrababu Edited by S. Ganeshram and C. Bhavani. Chennai: Indian Universities Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/CISI5MVX/collection |
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The following quotes suggest that trading emporia were likely present in the Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom. “Banjaras not only carried goods across the interior on their pack bullocks but bought and sold them in their own right. They were very far from the pedlars and ‘gypsies’ depicted in colonial times. Their caravans could stretch to thousands of bullocks and they articulated the interior economy with that of the coast.”
[1]
“Parallel to, and frequently working with, the banjara caravans were specialist merchant castes, who used their own internal organizations to develop trade over long distances. Most prominent, down the south-east coast, were Telugu Komatis who specialized in chilli, turmeric, and tobacco, grown in Andhra, but were also involved in the cloth and rice trades. The spread across many of the casbahs in the Tamil and Kannada countries but kept their identity and cohesion through maintenance of their language and, also, worship at their own sectarian temples.”
[2]
[1]: (Washbrook 2010, 275) Washbrook, David. 2010. ‘Merchants, Markets, and Commerce in Early Modern South India’. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 53:1/2 Pp 266-289. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/7ZBUUSJN/collection [2]: (Washbrook 2010, 276) Washbrook, David. 2010. ‘Merchants, Markets, and Commerce in Early Modern South India’. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. Vol. 53:1/2 Pp 266-289. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/7ZBUUSJN/collection |
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The following quote discusses trading emporia known as Pattanam during the Sangam Age in Tamil Nadu. “Pattanam were the centres of long distance trade. Certain weights of gold known as Kaame and Kalanju were used as media of exchange in the Pattanam, perhaps also in certain higher transactions.
[1]
[1]: (Agnihotri 1988, 357) Agnihotri, V.K. 1988. Indian History. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/PNX9XBJQ/collection |
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The following quote suggests that trading emporia were likely present. “The Pallavas were also known for their commercial enterprise, increased production, and economic expansion. Both internal and external trade increased under the Pallavas. Internally, urban centers featured markets, while a good road system allowed villagers to transport goods to market.”
[1]
[1]: (Bush Trevino 2012, 46) Bush Travino, Macella. 2012. ‘The Pallava Dynasty’ In Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Vol.4 Edited by Carolyn M. Elliot. Los Angeles: Sage. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/7F5SEVNA/items/4RPCX448/collection |
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British trading posts such as Gibraltar became famous for their emporiums and immense amounts of imports and exports that it traded across the Empire.
[1]
[1]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 306) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ |
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