Silent trade
Silent trade, also called silent barter, dumb barter ("dumb" here used in its old meaning of "mute"), or depot trade, is a method by which traders who cannot speak each other's language can trade without talking. Group A would leave trade goods in a prominent position and signal, by gong, fire, or drum for example, that they had left goods. Group B would then arrive at the spot, examine the goods and deposit their trade goods or money that they wanted to exchange and withdraw. Group A would then return and either accept the trade by taking the goods from Group B or withdraw again leaving Group B to add to or change out items to create an equal value. The trade ends when Group A accepts Group B's offer and removes the offered goods leaving Group B to remove the original goods.
This system was used in many parts of ancient Africa.[citation needed] Silent trading was mainly used during the period 500 to 1500. The practice was also well established between tribes in Africa in their trade with India. Cosmas Indicopleustes describes this practiced in Azania, where officials from Axum traded for gold with beef.[1] Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal recorded this practice when he occupied Ceuta in 1415.
In West Africa gold mined south of the Sahel was traded for salt mined in the desert. The salt from the desert was needed by the people of Sahel to flavor and preserve their food and the gold had obvious value, especially in trading with the European people. Because of this trade, cities grew and flourished and parts of West Africa became commercial centers. West Africa produced large amounts of gold until about 1500 AD. The communication in this gold-for-salt was carried out using drums.[2]
Silent trade might be used because of an inability to speak the other traders' language, or to protect the secrets of where the valuable gold and salt came from.
Silent bartering has been used since ancient times, such as the ancient Ghana Empire. The Ghanaian salt traders would leave pounds of salt by the Niger river and the gold traders would leave a fair amount of gold in turn.
Procedure[edit]
To perform a silent trade, one group of traders would go to a specific location, leave their trading goods and then withdraw to a distance. Then play a drum to signal the other traders that a silent trade was taking place. The other group of traders would then approach and inspect the goods (most commonly salt or gold). If the goods met with approval, the second group would then take the goods, leave their own goods in return, and depart. This system of trading was used in particular in ancient Ghana. It was also used among the Kushites and the Aksumites.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the gold trade between anciet horn of Africa and Carthage: "The Carthaginians also tell us that they trade with a race of men who live in a part of Libya beyond the Pillars of Hercules which were known as the kingdom of macrobia centered in modern day Somalia, Djibouti and northeast kenya. The macrobia civilisation were an anciet legendary people and kingdom positioned in the Horn of Africa
as mentioned by Herodotus and were wealthy with valuable goods used to trade with the Mediterranean world and the Levant. The Carthaginians, upon reaching this country, unload their goods and neatly arrange them along the beach. They then return to their boats and signal their presence by raising smoke. Observing this, the locals approach, placing a certain quantity of gold on the ground in exchange for the goods. Afterward, they withdraw to a distance. If the Carthaginians deem the offered gold to be fair, they collect it and depart. However, if they find it insufficient, they return to their boats and wait, prompting the locals to add more gold until both parties are satisfied. There exists mutual trust: the Carthaginians refrain from touching the gold until it matches the value of their goods, and the locals refrain from taking the goods until the gold has been removed.
The Macrobian kingdom, Phoenician civilization and Carthage, according to Herodotus, boasted extensive trade routes connecting the Mediterranean world to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, facilitating the exchange of goods reaching as far as the Gulf of Aden and beyond, including southern Arabia. This thriving trade attracted the attention of the Persian Empire under Cambyses II, who launched significant expeditions with the aim of conquering Macrobia and Carthage, driven by the lucrative opportunities presented by these trade networks.
The silent trade between Carthage and Macrobia, as recorded by Herodotus, served as a crossroad between nubian caravan route under Kush Kingdom and the Sabeans civilization in Southern arabia were trade flourished centuries .
Banyan merchants[edit]
W.S.W. Ruschenberger, M.D., in Zanzibar in 1835, describes Banyan merchants, then cites "Establecimientos ultramarinos. Tomo III. Madrid 1786"[3] in writing:
....A very short time sufficed them to transact the most important business. They usually dealt in bazaars; the vender told the price of his goods in a subdued voice and in few words; the purchaser replied by taking his hand, and by a certain manner of doubling and extending the fingers, explained what abatement he wished in the price. The bargain was often concluded without speaking a word; and, to ratify it, the hand was again taken in token of its inviolability....
Such were the Banyans three centuries gone by, and we have reason to think, they have not been entirely changed.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ Cited in J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford: University Press, 1969), pp. 167f. Although Miller offers an extensive passage in translation, he does not provide the source for his quotation.
- ^ Holt World History: The Human Journey. p. 193.
- ^ Raynal, abbé Guillaume-Thomas-François (1785). Historia política de los establecimientos ultramarinos de las naciones europeas, Volume 3 (in Spanish). Madrid: Antonio de Sancha. OCLC 14135206.
- ^ Ruschenberger, William Samuel Waithman (1837). "Chapter IV. Sketches in Zanzibar September, 1835". A Voyage Round the World: Including an Embassy to Muscat and Siam in 1835, 1836 and 1837. Harper & brothers. pp. 34–5. OCLC 12492287. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
- Philip James Hamilton Grierson (1903), The Silent Trade, ASIN B00131VAAE (UK)
External links[edit]
- "Silent trade", from Encyclopædia Britannica