Th is type of bartering extended to services as well as to
goods. Th roughout much of Africa, patron-client relation-
ships were common. Th is term means that infl uential and
wealthier members of the community became patrons for
those less infl uential or wealthy, their clients. Th e patron pro-
vided protection and economic benefi ts for the client, who in
turn performed services for his patron. Th e result of all these
social-economic relationships was an integrated economy,
with diff erent groups of people such as clans and tribes pro-
viding economic benefi ts not only for themselves but also for
one another. Stability was ensured by interlocking systems of
clan and patron-client relationships, all strengthened by mar-
ital alliances. In this way, over time, clans united into larger
tribes, which in turn united into regional powers.
Not all fl oodplains and river valleys were alike. Th e Sene-
gal River valley was narrow, about 12 miles wide. In contrast,
the Niger River valley was much wider, some 60 miles wide.
Th e result was that the various types of land along the Niger
were much more widely dispersed; rather than parallel strips,
the usable land took the form more of a patchwork. Further,
this larger region was inhabited by various tribes who oft en
did not maintain good relations with one another and may
have spoken diff erent languages. Intermarriage under these
circumstances was not as common. Th us, confl icts over land
use arose. Th e result was a far less integrated economy. In-
dividual tribes and clans staked out land for their own pur-
poses, resulting in a subsistence economy, with each tribe
or clan living largely off its own produce. Along the Senegal
River, the economy was more integrated, with the various
clans sharing their productive capacity with one another in
large part simply because they lived in closer proximity, in-
termarried, and spoke the same language.
Not all of Africa became sedentary during the Neolithic
Revolution. Economic developments took place at diff erent
speeds in diff erent places. In West Africa, for example, hunt-
ing and gathering persisted as a way of life far longer than
it did in other parts of the continent, primarily because the
people had abundant resources and therefore had no incen-
tive to change their way of life. Also nomadic pastoralists
(herders) continued to move their herds about seasonally in
some parts of the continent. Th ese pastoralists never devel-
oped any kind of sophisticated system of resource allocation
or exchange. Th ey were the loners, the independent spirits of
the African economy. Th ey were representative of a way of
looking at economic systems in the sub-Sahara. While North
Africa, including the empire of the ancient Egyptians, relied
on a complex governmental system, with bureaucrats, asses-
sors, surveyors, tax collectors, and the like, all controlled by a
central authority, the sub-Sahara preferred local control and
independence, with economic activity directed by headmen,
clans, and lineages.
MINING, METALLURGY, AND TRADE
Th e kinds of problems faced by the inhabitants of the Niger
River valley led to a fundamental change in the economy of
that region. While the economic organizations of the Sen-
egal River valley fostered generalists, who sustained a mixed
economy of farming, herding, and fi shing, the patchwork
economy of the Niger River valley fostered specialization. As
populations grew, it became increasingly diffi cult for people
to meet their needs through a single economic activity. Ac-
cordingly, the Niger River valley turned more to trade and
exchange. Early in the Neolithic Period, such trade took place
between the various tribes that inhabited the region. In time,
this trade would radiate outward to more far-fl ung regions.
By about the beginning of the Common Era, the region was
pa r t of a t r ad i ng belt t hat ex tende d ac ros s t he m idd le of A f r ic a
and linked the Sahara and regions to the east to the southern
half of the continent.
With the precedent set for specialization, mining and
metallurgy became important parts of the local economy. Af-
rica was (and is) rich in iron ore. In many places, iron ore did
not even have to be dug; it was visible in rock outcroppings.
Interestingly, while much of the rest of the world passed
through stages in which copper and then bronze were the pri-
mary metals, Africa seemed to have skipped the Bronze Age
and passed directly to iron production. Iron, and later steel,
changed the makeup of ancient Africa. Tools were devel-
oped that made agricultural production more effi cient. With
a greater abundance of food and other resources, popula-
tions increased. For growing numbers of people to meet their
needs, they turned to trade with other parts of the world.
Meanwhile, iron became the mainstay of the African
economy in some regions. In the Niger River area, the city
of Jenne-jeno emerged as an important center of iron pro-
duction. Again, the result was increased specialization of
labor. Individuals mined ore, transported it, processed it by
separating the iron from the ore, and turned it into weapons,
plows, and other useful objects. Other individuals were re-
sponsible for cutting and hauling the enormous amounts of
wood needed to stoke the fi res, which were kept burning at
very high temperatures. (Th is cutting of wood led to exten-
sive deforestation in some areas, forcing people to abandon
their settlements.) Archaeologists have found numerous re-
mains of smithing and other iron-producing activities around
Jenne-jeno and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
It app e a r s t hat i n Jen ne -jeno no s o c i a l el ite or h ier a rc hy of
authority directed this economic activity from the top down.
Rather, the economy was organized horizontally, again with
lineages exercising authority over their members. Th e head-
men of these lineages created a complex latticework of over-
lapping agencies and cooperative ventures that directed iron
production from mining to fi nished products. Jenne-jeno
and communities like it initiated one of the chief features of
modern, urban economies: a central hub that drew people in
search of economic opportunity and that provided goods and
services for outlying areas in exchange for food and other ag-
ricultural products.
One peculiarity of the African iron industry, at least by
modern standards, is that it was associated with religious be-344 economy: Africa