Power, cloth and currency on the Loango Coast

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Periodical article

Title:	Power, cloth and currency on the Loango Coast
Author:	Martin, P.M.
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Muntu: revue scientifique et culturelle du CICIBA
Issue:	7
Pages:	135-147
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Central Africa
Subjects:	cloth currency weaving
Abstract:	Cloth was a basic resource for the peoples of the Loango Coast, the coastal regions between southern Gabon and the Zaire river, throughout their precolonial history. It was used in daily life for furnishings and for clothing; it was essential in landmark events such as initiation and burial ceremonies; it was part of key transactions that cemented lineage and state alliances; and it was a currency. The importation of European cloth from the sixteenth century began a transition from indigenous domestically produced raphia cloth to a reliance on foreign cloth, but the significance of cloth as a key resource at all levels of society continued. Access to sources of cloth and control of its distribution was closely associated with the wielding of power, whether by royal administrators, lineage elders, religious specialists or merchant-brokers. Notes, ref., sum. in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.