Trade centres · exported from the 16th century
Camwood
Baphia nitida, the red dyewood of the Bassa and Kru coast — for two centuries the region's most valuable legal export.
Biography
Camwood logs were cut inland, floated down the St John, Cestos and Sinoe rivers and rafted to the ships. In Europe the ground heartwood dyed wool a deep red; at home it was cosmetic, medicine and ritual pigment.
The trade was organised by coastal rulers who set the customs, employed Kru labour for the loading, and controlled which captains were allowed to cut.
Historical significance
The 'legitimate commerce' of the Grain Coast, and the reason the Bassa littoral was commercially valuable independent of the slave trade.
Timeline
- 16th c.First European purchases of camwood on this coast
- 17th–18th c.A staple of the Grain Coast trade
- 19th c.Displaced by palm oil and then by synthetic dyes
Related entries
References
- Brooks, George E. (1972). The Kru Mariner in the Nineteenth Century.
- Rodney, Walter (1970). A History of the Upper Guinea Coast.
Suggested reading
- Brooks (1972).