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Africans Investing in Africa pp 9–27Cite as

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The Wangara Trading Network in Precolonial West Africa: An Early Example of Africans Investing in Africa

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Abstract

This study focuses on the extensive business and trading empire that Mande-speaking merchants, trade brokers, and financiers built and ran across West Africa between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Wangara feature prominently in the economic and mercantile history of West Africa because they pioneered intra-regional long distance trading and investments. They faced and overcame obstacles to trade and investments in diverse cultural and political settings, leaving a legacy that is instructive for current discussions about Africans investing and trading across Africa.

Keywords

  • Trading System
  • Ivory Coast
  • Trading Network
  • African Trade
  • Trading Empire

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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  • DOI: 10.1057/9781137542809_2
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Notes

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Authors
  1. Moses E. Ochonu
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Brenthurst Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Terence McNamee (Deputy Director) (Deputy Director)

  2. Lusaka, Zambia

    Mark Pearson (Independent Consultant) (Independent Consultant)

  3. Group Strategy and Business Development, Heirs Holdings, Lagos, Nigeria

    Wiebe Boer (Director) (Director)

Copyright information

© 2015 Moses E. Ochonu

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Ochonu, M.E. (2015). The Wangara Trading Network in Precolonial West Africa: An Early Example of Africans Investing in Africa. In: McNamee, T., Pearson, M., Boer, W. (eds) Africans Investing in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137542809_2

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