Handcraft and Mining Industries in Pre-colonial Africa
Handcraft Industries
This refers to the an art of using skills and hands to design and fashion things. Humans used hands and skills to produce tools and weapons of these industries. Handcraft industries supported much the development of trade in Pre-colonial societies.
They produced the following products;-
Pots, Bowls, Bricks, Baskets, Mats etc.
Industry
This refers to the place where raw materials are processed into finished goods
– e.g. cotton-cloth.
Specializes Handraft industries in Pre-Colonial Socities
The following were the handcraft industries
- Cloth Making
- Pottery
- Basketry
- Carpentry
- Mining Industry
- Salt Making
i. Cloth Making
This was an art of making clothes from local cotton species, bark of trees and animal skins. Clothes were made by pounding the bark of certain trees and decorate by using dyes. Other societies were used animal skins of the following sheep, goats and camels
Examples of societies involved in cloth making
Uses of Clothes
1. To cover human bodies
2. Such as from coldest, nakedness
3. To decorate themselves
4. For special occasion – Such as religious, traditional ad funeral ceremonies
5. Sometimes color of the cloth was very important such as black color for rain making – Block clothes symbolized dark clouds which pour
6. To stimulate the development of trade
7. To symbolize Authority
ii. Pottery
This was an art of making pots and other items from clayey soils. This skill was common in areas with suitable clayey soil.
In Pre-Colonial African Societies people who specialized in pottery made items such as pots, pipes, and bowls for domestic uses and exchange
Pottery was common in the following societies
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Uses of Pottery
i. To make utensils For cooking and storing water, beer, milk and grains
ii. For trade
- Local and regional trade
- Pare traded their objects to Maasai and Chagga.
- Kis traded their objects to Nyakyusa, Ndali, Kinga, Pangwa, Ngoni
iii. Basketry
This was a art of leaving palm leaves and other special reeds to make new products. Those product such as mats, hats, baskets and ropes
Those material used in basketry were mostly obtained from palm trees, reeds, bamboos and other types of grass.
Basketry was common in the following societies
Uses of Basketry
i. For collecting and carrying agricultural products
ii. For trade – Local and regional trade
ii. To produce fish traps
iii. Wrapping human dead bodies
iv. For sitting, sleeping and drying foodstuff
iv. Carpentry
This involved working on wood logs and poles to make wooden products. This art was common in many African communities living in woodland environment.
For example, artisans carved wood to make stools, mortars, pestles, doors, canoes, beehives
and wooden basins. Examples of societies in Tanzania and Mozambique is Makonde
Uses of Carpentry Products
i. Canoes were used for transporting people and commodities and fishing.
ii. To pound grains into flour and crush herbs into usable medicine
iii. To make figurines Such as masks, earning and bracelets
iv. Mining industry
This was extraction of minerals from ground. Examples of such minerals in Pre-coloniica were iron, salt, gold, copper, silver and tin.
v. Iron Working
It started in some of the African communities in the first millennium BCE.
In East Africa, tis technology started around 500BCE and widely spread in the region by around 1700CE.
The process of forging iron into tools known as forging.
People who specialized in processing iron into tools or weapons were called Ironsmiths.
Examples of societies involved in ironworking.
Main stages of Iron tools Production
The following were stages of iron tools productions
a. Iron ore was mined from the ground.
b. The ore was smelted in furnaces in order to purify it.
c. Pure iron was left to cool and solidify
d. The solidified iron was heated until it became red hot.
e. It was hammered into different shaped tools or weapons
Advantages of Iron technology
i. Expansion of agriculture
ii. Population increase
iii. The growth of trade
iv. Emergence of specializations
v. Improvement of self-defence
vi. Emergence of Chiefdom and Kingdoms
VI. Salt making industries
These are industries, which engaged in production of soil in pre-colonial Africa. Salt was very important human beings history and it activities
Methods of obtaining salt
There were four methods of obtaining salt, namely
- Salty reeds
- Leaching of rocks soil
- Salt mining from rocks
- Evaporating salty water
i. Salty reeds
These were burnt and the ash as dissolved in water. The solution was filtered and boiled until all the water evaporated. The remaining residue was used as salt. These were common in:
| Parts | PM Salt sites |
| Tanzania | – Lake Victoria, Mang’anja (near lake Nyasa) |
| Uganda | Bahaya, Baganda and Lake Albert |
ii. Evaporating salty water
Salty ocean water trapped in pans and left to dry under the heat of the sun. After drying, salt crystals remained I the pans. The method was common and still common in Tanga, Bagamoyo, Lindi, Dar es Salaam and Mtwara.
iii. Salt Mining From Rocks
This was directly mined salty rocks. The rock crystals were used as salt. This method was used by people of ;-
| Parts | PM Salt sites |
| Tanzania | – Lake Victoria, Mang’anja (near lake Nyasa) |
| Uganda | Bahaya, Baganda and Lake Albert |
iv. Leaching
This was method by which water was drained through rocky soils that had a high content of salt. It was sieved and boiled to obtain salt crystals. This method was common in:-
| Parts | Salt sites |
| Tanzania | – Uvinza and Ivuna |
| West Africa | Bilma |
| Ethiopia and central Africa | Timbuktu |
Uses of salt
i. To add favor in a food
ii. To preserve food
iii. It used as trade item/commodity
iv. Medium of exchange in trade – Example merchants of Timbuktu in the Saharan desert used salt as medium of exchange
v. Used as medicine. – Curing wounds, Sodium bicarbonate was used as antacid to treat indigestion and upset stomach.
vi. For mummification – It was common in ancient Egyptians
VII. Gold Mining and Processing
This was process of extracting minerals – It was used for making jewelry, ornaments, and decorative
Societies involved were ;-
| Parts | Gold Mining Sites |
| West Africa | – Bambuk, Bure, Lobi and Asante |
| – Southern Africa | River Sabi and River Zambezi |
| Zimbabwe | Mashona |
Methods used in Gold Mining
There were two methods used
- The Panning Method
- The Shaft Method
i. The Panning Method
This was method of collected alluvial gold found along the streams or river beds. They used pans to separate gold from sand and rocks. This method practiced along tributaries of Rivers Sabi and Zambezi which flow across Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
ii. The Shaft Method
This method contained underground gold veins. People were dug out rocks containing Gold.
The rocks were then taken to furnaces where they burnt to obtain pure . This method was used in the Mashonaland of Zimbabwe and Asante in Ghana.
Uses of Gold
i. It was used as commodity or trade item
ii. It used as medium of exchange or form of currency
iii. It used as symbol of power and authority for African rulers
iv. It served as symbol of wealth and power for those who possessed
v. It used for making decoration, jewelry, ornaments and decorative materials
It used to make golden utensils – Such as cups, plates as well as handle knives and swords
VIII. Copper Mining and Processing
Copper was produced mainly through smelting of copper ores. Ores containing copper were smelted and made into pieces of pure metal shaped like a brick.
Mining of copper took place in many areas of pre-colonial Africa included the following ;-
| Parts | Copper mining sites |
| Zambia | – Kafue |
| Zimbabwe | Gwai river – |
| – Congo | Katanga |
| – Egypt | Sinai Penisula |
| Nigeria | Igbo and Yoruba |
Uses of Copper
i. It was making trade items
ii. Like ornaments, Bowls, copper wire, daggers, and helmet.
iii. It was used as a medium of exchange
iv. It used for making fish hooks
v. Mainly done in Egypt
Revision Exercise
1. “Life was transformed after the discovery of iron in pre-colonial Africa”. Explain.
2. What are the similarities and differences between handcraft industries and processing industries?
3. What are the lessons that Tanzania can learn from the pre-colonial handcraft industries?
