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Wheeled transport in pre-colonial West Africa*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Robin Law
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Extract

One of the most important differences in technology between Africa south of the Sahara during the pre-colonial period and many other areas of the world, it is frequently suggested, was the almost complete absence in the former of any form of wheeled transport. The transport of goods overland in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa was normally done by pack animals, where these were available, or more generally by human porterage. This lack of wheeled transport, it might be argued, had crucial implications for the history of sub-Saharan Africa, since the high cost of transport by pack animals and human porterage has often been presented as one of the principal constraints upon the expansion of trade, and hence of economic growth generally, in pre-colonial times. The lack of wheels in sub-Saharan Africa, it is clear, cannot have been due simply to ignorance, since many areas of the continent had been in contact with wheel-using civilizations outside Africa for several centuries before the colonial conquest at the end of the nineteenth century. Indeed, as this article will show, there is abundant evidence that, in West Africa at least, the technology of wheeled transport was quite widely known, though put to only very limited use, in the pre-colonial period. The reasons why this technology, although readily available, was nevertheless not generally adopted are, however, very far from being clear.

Résumé

Le transport par roue dans l'Afrique Occidentale pré-coloniale

Le présent article étudie ce que l'on sait des tentatives qui ont été faites, à l'époque précoloniale, pour introduire le transport par roue en Afrique Occidentale, dans l'espoir de jeter quelque lumière sur les raisons pour lesquelles ce mode de transport ne fut pas adopté par les Africains de l'Ouest. L'introduction de véhicules à roues au Sahara et leur disparition ultérieure sont examinées brièvement, cette disparition servant à démontrer qu'il ne faut pas nécessairement conclure, de façon décisive, à la supériorité des véhicules à roues sur les bêtes de somme. Puis sont passés en revue plusieurs exemples d'importation, à partir du dixseptième siècle, de véhicules à roues en provenance d'Europe. II est montré qu'il était facile aux sociétés d'Afrique Occidentale de se procurer des véhicules à roues, que certains chefs africains se montrèrent tres désireux d'acquérir de tels véhicules et que, dans certains cas, il en fut fabriqué par des artisans locaux. Cependant, les véhicules à roues étaient généralement utilisés pour les cérémonies, accessoirement aussi pour la guerre, et il existe peu de preuves que l'adoption du transport par roue pour la circulation des biens ait suscité un intérêt véritable. II est suggéré que c'est, avant tout, la mauvaise qualité des routes locales qui a entravé l'adoption de ce mode de transport.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , July 1980 , pp. 249 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1980

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