Ivory trade
From what I've read, while researching for my south-eastern African TGOK Rozwi position, the hunting of elephants wasn't too widely done pre-C19th Colonialism.
The main issue being that the African Tribal kingdoms didn't value ivory, so it was worthless to them and was left scattered about or piled up, unguarded, at the edges of settlements while waiting for trading opportunities with non-Tribal merchants. This is possibly why the White explorers believed that Ivory was so abundant, as they ventured into the African interior and made contact with the Tribal settlements, that they believed Ivory was to be found in huge quantities throughout Africa and ready for the taking. Ivory being a cheap commodity to the African Tribals, the non-tribal merchants could purchase the trade good for a relatively cheap amount, until the African Tribals came to understand the value of the commodity and in some cases decreased the sales and export of Ivory, so as to drive prices back up.
Pre-C19th Colonialism, I've read that the African Tribal people would only take Ivory that was to be found on elephant carcasses. It being too great a task to hunt and kill an elephant with bow or spear, and Ivory not being of value to the African Tribal economy, so they did not hunt elephant. Though, like in present-day India and elsewhere in Asia, elephants are a nuisance to crop farming and need scaring off land set aside for arable farming, so Pre-Colonial African Tribals would have had contact with elephants and be, no doubt, skilled in 'herding' them away from valuable food crops.
Come the conquests of the White explorers, gunpowder weapons became widespread and African Tribals gained the use of these weapons to aid them in hunting elephants for Ivory, to sell on to the non-tribal market.
Now this is only what I have, so far, read. So please don't take it as reliable truth. It is, however, something to consider when playing The Glory of Kings, and a player sets out a trade investment in Ivory. Will guns need to be supplied to the hunters? Will these hunters be proficient in the weapons use? Will these gunpowder weapons be matchlock, or flintlock? Initially trade in Ivory may be good, as Ivory is stripped from dead elephants or purchased cheaply from tribal stockpiles, but once these sources are depleted the investment could suffer collapse due to the need to now hunt and kill elephants, and the weapons being used are not suitable for the task.
Just a thought
Roy
[I'll just state that my reading was for Tribal South Eastern Africa. So what I've said above probably won't apply to West Africa]
From what I've read, while researching for my south-eastern African TGOK Rozwi position, the hunting of elephants wasn't too widely done pre-C19th Colonialism.
The main issue being that the African Tribal kingdoms didn't value ivory, so it was worthless to them and was left scattered about or piled up, unguarded, at the edges of settlements while waiting for trading opportunities with non-Tribal merchants. This is possibly why the White explorers believed that Ivory was so abundant, as they ventured into the African interior and made contact with the Tribal settlements, that they believed Ivory was to be found in huge quantities throughout Africa and ready for the taking. Ivory being a cheap commodity to the African Tribals, the non-tribal merchants could purchase the trade good for a relatively cheap amount, until the African Tribals came to understand the value of the commodity and in some cases decreased the sales and export of Ivory, so as to drive prices back up.
Pre-C19th Colonialism, I've read that the African Tribal people would only take Ivory that was to be found on elephant carcasses. It being too great a task to hunt and kill an elephant with bow or spear, and Ivory not being of value to the African Tribal economy, so they did not hunt elephant. Though, like in present-day India and elsewhere in Asia, elephants are a nuisance to crop farming and need scaring off land set aside for arable farming, so Pre-Colonial African Tribals would have had contact with elephants and be, no doubt, skilled in 'herding' them away from valuable food crops.
Come the conquests of the White explorers, gunpowder weapons became widespread and African Tribals gained the use of these weapons to aid them in hunting elephants for Ivory, to sell on to the non-tribal market.
Now this is only what I have, so far, read. So please don't take it as reliable truth. It is, however, something to consider when playing The Glory of Kings, and a player sets out a trade investment in Ivory. Will guns need to be supplied to the hunters? Will these hunters be proficient in the weapons use? Will these gunpowder weapons be matchlock, or flintlock? Initially trade in Ivory may be good, as Ivory is stripped from dead elephants or purchased cheaply from tribal stockpiles, but once these sources are depleted the investment could suffer collapse due to the need to now hunt and kill elephants, and the weapons being used are not suitable for the task.
Just a thought
Roy
[I'll just state that my reading was for Tribal South Eastern Africa. So what I've said above probably won't apply to West Africa]