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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Aro system of trade in the nineteenth century |
Author: | Ekejiuba, F. Ifeoma |
Year: | 1972 |
Periodical: | Ikenga: Journal of African Studies |
Volume: | 1 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 11-26 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | Aro slave trade mercantile history |
Abstract: | The economic ascendancy which the Aro attained in pre-British days in what is known as Eastern Nigeria was undoubtedly a consequence of their role as middlemen of the traffic in slaves for the internal as well as for the trans-atlantic trade. There is considerable evidence that during the slave trade and before trade in oil replaced trade in slaves, the Aro were the 'economic dictators of the hinterland'. The availability of slaves was limited: the supply depended on a high degree of organisation and co-ordination between coastal communities and their inland agents. With the collaps of the external market in slaves, the penetration inland from the 1889's of British traders culminating after 1902 in the progressive over-running of the Igbo and Ibibio hinterland, the Aro monopoly of the inland markets faced challenges which ultimately led to its elimination. The British expedition to Arochukwu led to the final fall of Aro monopoly of inland trade and the development of roads and railways which made contact between producers and buyers feasible. Notes. |