Publication Date
2009
Categories
current designation for the kola nut, produced by the cola tree, which is indigenous to West Africa. Of the more than forty known species of this plant, the most common are Cola nitida, which has always had the highest commercial value, and Cola acuminate. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the greatest concentration of uncultivated cola trees (and, perhaps since the 14th century also of its cultivated form) was located in a spot of moist tropical forest, whose central nucleus corresponded to what nowadays is Sierra Leone, and stretched through the actual territories of Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast, extending southeast towards Gabon and Angola. Cola specimens also appear in the Islands of the Gulf of Guinea, and were probably part of the original vegetation. Besides existing in areas of Africa, where it has long been a part of the natural habitat, the cola tree spread to other regions around the world which have tropical climates.
In a great many West African societies, from the earliest recorded times to this day, in addition to specific daily uses, which are widespread among the population, the cola has had significant functions in religious and magical ceremonies (namely in divination rites) and in social relationships (for example in the negotiation of weddings or as a symbol of hospitality). Traditionally, the fruit was used as a masticatory and, because of its nature as a stimulant (it is rich in caffein and other alkaloids), it was ascribed multiple properties, such as relief of fatigue and increased resistance to hunger and thirst, in addition to therapeutic and aphrodisiacal effects. In Muslim areas, where access to other stimulants was difficult, the use of the kola nut emerged as an alternative, because the consumption of alcoholic beverages was prohibited.
Like the gold trade, the cola commerce, particularly of the species Cola nitida, was one of the most dynamic sectors of West African economic activity, promoting caravan traffic, at least since the 13th century, which developed northward, connecting forest to savanna and reaching the Sahara Desert. On the other hand, on dates that are difficult to specify, a lucrative coastal commerce was also established, circulating the kola nuts between Sierra Leone and the rivers of Northern Senegambia, where mandinga merchants, among others, took them to supply the markets in the interior.
The records of Portuguese intervention in these exchange networks are not abundant, and the first known references to cola traffic by sea only appear in the second half of the 16th century, with Francisco de Andrade and André Alvares de Almada. We are justified, however, in thinking that much before then the tangomaos not only knew of the traffic but participated in it directly. During the 17th century, it is certain that Portuguese and Portuguese-African merchants took advantage of the coastal trade routes to nearly monopolize the cola commerce along the Guinea coasts. Although the consumption of kola nuts was common practice among many of the Portuguese who were associated with coastal Africa or lived in the archipelagos of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Principe, this tendency was not introduced into Europe, other than sporadically and mostly for therapeutic reasons.
Bibliography:
BROOKS, George E., «Kola Trade and State-building: Upper Guinea Coast and Senegambia, 15th-17th Centuries», Working Paper nº 38, African Studies Center, Boston University, 1980. Idem, Eurafricans in Western Africa, Oxford, James Currey, 2003. FICALHO, Conde de, Plantas úteis da África Portuguesa, 2ª ed. revista, Lisboa, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1947. LOVEJOY, Paul E., «Kola in the history of West Africa», Cahiers d'Études africaines, vol. 77/78, 1980, pp. 97-134. Idem, "Kola nuts: the 'coffee' of Central Sudan", in Consuming Habits: Drugs in History and Anthropology, Londres/Nova Iorque, Routledge, 2003, pp. 98-120.
Translated by: Maria João Pimentel
In a great many West African societies, from the earliest recorded times to this day, in addition to specific daily uses, which are widespread among the population, the cola has had significant functions in religious and magical ceremonies (namely in divination rites) and in social relationships (for example in the negotiation of weddings or as a symbol of hospitality). Traditionally, the fruit was used as a masticatory and, because of its nature as a stimulant (it is rich in caffein and other alkaloids), it was ascribed multiple properties, such as relief of fatigue and increased resistance to hunger and thirst, in addition to therapeutic and aphrodisiacal effects. In Muslim areas, where access to other stimulants was difficult, the use of the kola nut emerged as an alternative, because the consumption of alcoholic beverages was prohibited.
Like the gold trade, the cola commerce, particularly of the species Cola nitida, was one of the most dynamic sectors of West African economic activity, promoting caravan traffic, at least since the 13th century, which developed northward, connecting forest to savanna and reaching the Sahara Desert. On the other hand, on dates that are difficult to specify, a lucrative coastal commerce was also established, circulating the kola nuts between Sierra Leone and the rivers of Northern Senegambia, where mandinga merchants, among others, took them to supply the markets in the interior.
The records of Portuguese intervention in these exchange networks are not abundant, and the first known references to cola traffic by sea only appear in the second half of the 16th century, with Francisco de Andrade and André Alvares de Almada. We are justified, however, in thinking that much before then the tangomaos not only knew of the traffic but participated in it directly. During the 17th century, it is certain that Portuguese and Portuguese-African merchants took advantage of the coastal trade routes to nearly monopolize the cola commerce along the Guinea coasts. Although the consumption of kola nuts was common practice among many of the Portuguese who were associated with coastal Africa or lived in the archipelagos of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Principe, this tendency was not introduced into Europe, other than sporadically and mostly for therapeutic reasons.
Bibliography:
BROOKS, George E., «Kola Trade and State-building: Upper Guinea Coast and Senegambia, 15th-17th Centuries», Working Paper nº 38, African Studies Center, Boston University, 1980. Idem, Eurafricans in Western Africa, Oxford, James Currey, 2003. FICALHO, Conde de, Plantas úteis da África Portuguesa, 2ª ed. revista, Lisboa, Agência Geral das Colónias, 1947. LOVEJOY, Paul E., «Kola in the history of West Africa», Cahiers d'Études africaines, vol. 77/78, 1980, pp. 97-134. Idem, "Kola nuts: the 'coffee' of Central Sudan", in Consuming Habits: Drugs in History and Anthropology, Londres/Nova Iorque, Routledge, 2003, pp. 98-120.
Translated by: Maria João Pimentel