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The Volta River Salt Trade: the Survival of an Indigenous Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

I. B. Sutton
I. B. Sutton
Affiliation:
University of Ghana
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Extract

Salt has been produced in Ghana since at least the sixteenth century at many coastal sites. By the nineteenth century commercial production was concentrated in the lagoons east of Accra, and especially at Songor Lagoon just west of Ada. Here the Ada Manche and the priesthood controlled production. Much salt consumed in Asante and further north came from Accra, Ningo and Songor, and an increasing proportion went up the Volta River by canoe. The share of salt trade in the hands of the Ada traders is reflected in their virtual monopoly of the river traffic and their settlement in trading communities along the river. The British attempted to regulate and tax the trade, but market forces were more important in determining price. Salt from Ada was generally preferred to imported salt and to salt from other local sources, but the alternative of imported salt helped regulate the local prices. The importance of Daboya as a source of salt seems to have been somewhat exaggerated. Salt from Ada continued to predominate in much of Ghana in the twentieth century, but the river traffic was gradually replaced by motor transport, and the hold of the Adas on the distributive network broken. Salt continued to be produced by traditional methods at Songor until quite recently. It is still produced by traditional means for a fairly wide sale at Keta Lagoon, east of the Volta.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 43 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 See for instance, Alpers, E. A., Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa (London, 1975)Google Scholar, and Rodney, W., How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London, 1972).Google Scholar

2 Hopkins, A. G. puts these points in chapter 7 of the Economic History of West Africa (London, 1973)Google Scholar, and many local studies bear him out. M. Johnson notes that a tax had to be imposed on Nigerian cloth in order to make the price of British cloth competitive: ‘Cotton imperialism in West Africa’, African Affairs, lxxiii, 291, April 1974.Google Scholar See also Redmond, P. M., ‘Some notes on the trade in dried fish in the Central Savanna, 1800–1930’ (Seminar on the Economic History of the Central Savanna of West Africa, Kano, 1976)Google Scholar; Lovejoy, P. E., ‘The Borno salt industry’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, xi, 4 (1978)Google Scholar; and ‘The salt industry of the Central Sudan’ (Kano Seminar).

3 Adm 56/1/242, Ghana National Archives (all ADM numbers hereafter refer to the GNA); Asst. D. C. Tamale to Chief Commissioner Northern Territories (hereafter CCNT), 17 Jan. 1939.

4 Lovejoy's contention (‘The Borno salt industry’, 637) that Borno salt was traded all over Ghana in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seems to be unlikely. No Ghanaian source is cited in support of this statement. Most evidence, admittedly imprecise for this period, seems to indicate that Hausa and Moshi traders bought salt at various points along the Volta, for distribution elsewhere, rather than bringing salt in. Sea salt had a more than local importance and a wider distribution than implied in this article, at least in Ghana. See, for instance, below: Bowdich (note 10), Wilks (note 12), Grove and Johansen (note 17).

5 Lovejoy, Ibid.

6 Sundström, L., The Exchange Economy of Pre-Colonial Tropical Africa (London, 1974), 22Google Scholar, refers to salt production further west, notably at Kommenda and Elmina. This is of minor importance, especially in view of the Dutch records collected by Van Dantzig (see below).

7 Van Dantzig, A., The Dutch and the Guinea Coast 1674–1742, 69, 144–5, 202, 279, 294.Google Scholar

8 Coastal people acquired vast riches from the sale of salt, says Bosman, for ‘all’ inland peoples ‘are obliged to fetch their salt from the shore’, which ‘must cost them very dear’. Bosman, W., A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (London, 1705), 308.Google Scholar

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10 Bowdich, T. E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (London, 1819), 162–3, 248Google Scholar; Fynn, J., Asante and Her Neighbours (London, 1971), 6–7.Google Scholar According to Barbot, people from the interior came down to the coast in great numbers, carrying the salt away in reed baskets. Barbot, J., A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea (London, 1732), 205–6.Google Scholar

11 Bowdich, 324, 176, 334, 336–7.

12 Wilks, I., Asante in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1975), 269–70Google Scholar; for Daboya, see below.

13 Jenkins, P., Abstracts of Basel Missionaries' Correspondence (Balme Library, University of Ghana), 43 (Ayer, 1859), 47 (Suss, 1860), 78 ff. (Asante, 1878), 84 (Opoku, 1878), 114 (Mohr, 1879).Google Scholar

14 Arhin, K. (ed.), The Papers of George Ekem Ferguson (Leiden and Cambridge, 1974), 10, 20, 22–3.Google Scholar

15 Binger, Le Capitaine, Du Niger au Golfe de Guinée (Paris, 1892); 1, 51, 315, 375Google Scholar; 11, 100–1.

16 Isert, P., Voyages en Guinée (Paris, 1793), 105.Google Scholar I have not seen any other references to the use of salt for preserving fish in the region. The most common methods are drying and smoking (cf. Redmond, footnote 2). The fish industry had greater importance on the Keta side. Certainly by the late nineteenth century, the Ada trade was almost exclusively in salt.

17 These are Danish ‘tonden’ each equivalent to 3½–5 cubic feet. Grove, J. M. and Johansen, A. M., ‘The historical geography of the Volta delta, Ghana, during the period of Danish influence’, IFAN, xxx, section B, no. 4 (1968).Google Scholar

18 Isert, 66–7; J. M. Grove and A. M. Johansen, ‘The historical geography’.

19 Kea, R. A., ‘Akwamu-Anlo relations, c. 1750–1813’, Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, x; Isert, 101–2.Google Scholar Kea has implied, in a seminar paper, that there was conflict between Ada and Anlo over control of the sources of salt. This does not seem to have been serious, at least, by the end of the eighteenth century – the Ada clearly controlled Songor lagoon, and the Anlo, Keta. There was conflict, however, over control of the trade to the interior, where the Anlo were eventually pushed out. Kea, ‘Salt Industries’.

20 Grove and Johansen, IF AN, op. cit.; Norregard, G., Danish Settlements in West Africa 1658–1850 (Boston, 1966), 198.Google Scholar On Donkor, Odonko, etc., as referring to the north, see, for instance, Wilks, I., Asante in the Nineteenth Century, 251, 276.Google Scholar

21 I am using ‘Adas’ to refer specifically to people from Ada and its immediate hinterland, rather than ‘ Adangme’, referring to a wider area west of the Volta. Certainly the trade upriver was dominated by the people of the town, rather than Adangmes in general. Grove and Johansen in IFAN, op. cit.

22 Norregard, op. cit. 145–6; Grove and Johansen, ibid.; Governor Carstensen's Diary, 33 (1846), cyclostyled; in possession of R. Addo-Fening, University of Ghana.

23 Adm 56/1/57 – Traders' records, Northern Territories, 1906–7; Circular memo. 30 Dec. 1907, CCNT.

24 Adm 56/1/242 – Traffic Manager, Takoradi, 22 March 1938; 26 July 1938; various district reports, late 1938, early 1939; P.C. Southern Province to D.C. Krachi, 14 Sept. 1922.

25 Adm 56/1/242, Asst. D.C. Tamale to C.C.N.T., 17 Jan 1939.

26 Adm 56/1/242, D.C. Krachi report, June 1922; Adm 39/1/566, D.C. Ada to Director of Supplies, Accra, 23 Sept. 1946; D.C. Keta to P.C. Koforidua, 24 Sept. 1946; P.C. Koforidua to D.C. Keta, 30 Sept. 1946.

27 O. R. Blair, ‘The Adas and the Songor Lagoon’, MSS, Rhodes House, Oxford.

28 Adm 56/1/242, D.C. Krachi, 4 June 1922; letter from Paul Hutter, Ada, 10 June 1922.

29 N. O. Anim reckoned that the lagoon dries out every three to four years. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, large salt harvests were not frequent – perhaps once every eight or ten years. Is it possible that the Volta Dam, and its control of flooding, contributed to the more frequent drying out of the lagoon in recent times? (Anim, N. O., ‘Ada, a local study of a coastal district’, Ghana Geographical Association Bulletin, iv, 2. 1959.Google Scholar)

30 Field Notes, July 1979; I am grateful to Dr Kim Ly of the Department of Geology, University of Ghana, for a very clear explanation of the geomorphology of the lagoon area.

31 Control, in theory, at least, by chiefs of access to concentrated salt deposits was, naturally, a common practice. The instances of Daboya (see below), Keana, in central Nigeria (Adufuye, A., ‘Keana, the gift of salt’, Kano seminar 1976Google Scholar), and Uvinza in Western Tanzania (Sutton, J. E. G. and Roberts, A. D., ‘Uvinza and its salt industry’, Azania, iii, 1968)Google Scholar may be cited. This orderly control by the Ada Manche was often more theoretical than apparent, and there was in fact much conflict over access to the lagoon. This will, I hope, be the subject of a future paper.

32 Adm 39/1/303, passim.

33 Adm 56/1/242, Asst. D.C. Ada, 5 Aug. 1922; Hutter letter; memo from Krachi, 24 March 1922.

34 Adm 56/1/242, salt records at Krachi; D.C.Ada, 5 Aug. 1922; Adm 56/1/39 Crabb, Krachi to Customs Office, Accra, 26 June 1903.

35 Ibid.

36 Adm 56/1/39; Colonial Secretary, Accra, to CCNT, 5 June 1905. Arhin, K., Ferguson Papers, 22–53.Google Scholar

37 Adm 56/1 /39; Gov. Nathan to CCNT, 28 Sept. 1903; Adm 56/1 /242 Hutter to D.C. Kete Krachi, 10 June 1922.

38 Adm 56/1/242, Ibid.; D.C. Krachi, 4 June 1922, 30 June 1922; D. Asante in Salaga Papers (Institute of African Studies, Legon), reference 3/2. See also Binger, Du Niger.

39 Adm 56/1/39; Crabb (of Preventive Service at Krachi) to Customs Office, Accra, 6 Aug. 1903; 26 June 1903, Gov. Nathan to CCNT, 28 Sept. 1903, Adm 56/1/242, D.C. Krachi, 30 June 1922. Arhin, , Ferguson Papers, 100Google Scholar; H. Ross, Diaries and Papers, Rhodes House, Oxford (MSS Afr. 469–70; 21/8/05.). Adas at various points along the Volta remained distinct communities, not becoming absorbed into local ethnic groups. The Ada community at Tamale Port provides an example (see below).

40 Adm 56/1/242, D.C. Krachi, 24 March 1922; Asst. D.C. Ada 5 Aug. 1922; Adm 56/1/39; H. J. Hobbs at Krachi, 27 April 1905, Capt. P. Lansdale to CCNT, 11 June, 1903; Crabb, 26 June 1903.

41 Adm 56/1/39, Crabb, 26 June 1903, Landsale, 11 June 1903. Adm 56/1/242, Hutter, letter, and Adm 56/1/39 and 56/1/242, passim (for costs). Overland costs, however, were always much higher. Ferguson records a charge of 165. per canoe-load of gin (40–60 cases) against 6s. for three cases head-loaded an equivalent distance. Arhin, K., Ferguson Papers, 22–3.Google Scholar The very high wage paid from Yeji to Daboya perhaps reflects the higher value in the north of the salt in which the pullers were paid.

42 For example, prices at Ada: is. to is. 3d. per bag in 1902 remaining constant to 1914, 8s. to 10s. in 1921; at Krachi 3s. 6d. to 4s, 6d. in 1901, 7s. bd. to 9s. in 1913, 15s. in 1918, 20s. to 26s. in 1921, down to 14s. to 15s. in 1922; at Atebubu (arriving by head-load) in 1906, 10s. to iis.; 13s. 6d. to 15s. at Bawku in 1941. Adm 56/1/242 and 56/1/39passim; Kumasi Archives, D656 (Kumasi references are by courtesy of David Killingray). The only sources for specific prices are the colonial records. They are probably fairly representative; the government's interest in price control meant that attempts to assess prices were as accurate as possible.

43 Arhin, Ferguson Papers, passim.

44 Adm 56/1/39 Hobbs (at Krachi), 12 Nov. 1902; Kumasi Archives D379 (March, 1906). K. Arhin, Ferguson Papers, 100 and passim, Adm 56/1/24 and Adm 56/1/28, passim.

45 Ibid. Col. Secretary to CCNT, 5 June 1905; Hobbs, 27 April 1905. The Preventive Service consisted of 250 men under educated African officers. Each section of this river was supervised by a British official. The Preventive Service was far more concerned with the smuggling of arms and ammunition, especially to Asante, than with the salt trade. H. Ross, Diaries and Papers, Rhodes House, Oxford (MSS Afr. S., 473; MSS Afr. S., 469–70).

46 Ibid. Crabb, 26 June 1903.

47 Ibid. Crabb, to Customs Office, 6 Aug. 1903; petition of Kpong traders, 20 October 1904.

48 For instance, one load of 300 lb of salt was estimated to cost £19 to transport to Daboya, where it sold for £27. Adm 56/1/39, Lansdale at Gonja, 11 June 1903; Morris, at Gambaga, 4 July 1903.

49 Ibid. C.C. Gambaga to Governor, 12 Dec. 1903; Lansdale at Salaga, 12 July 1903.

50 Adm 56/1/242, D.C. Keta, 15 May 1922, Record Officer, Ho, 28 April 1922; Hutter to D.C. Kete Krachi, 10 June 1922; P.C. Tamale, 9 September 1922.

51 Ibid. D.C. Krachi, 30 June 1922.

52 Ibid., memo from Krachi, 24 March 1922; D.C. Krachi, 4 June 1922.

53 Ibid., Asst. D.C. Bawku, July 1914; Chief Clerk N.T. to Accra, 3 May 1914.

54 Adm 56/1/111, Jan. 1910.

55 Ibid. 9 April 1916; 18 Sept. 1916; 18 April 1916;Sept. 1911. Adm 56/5/1, informal diary, Tamale, 20 Oct. 1915.

56 Ibid., P.C.S. Province to CCNT, 9 Oct. 1916,25 July 1916; 23 July 1915; 2 Jan 1917; Adm 56/5/1, 1 Oct. 1915, 18 July 1916.

57 Adm 56/5/1, informal diary, Tamale, 7 Oct. 1913.

58 Adm 56/1/242, P.C. Tamale, 28 Aug. 1925; Adm 56/1/111,passim; Adm 56/1/390, minute sheet, 1919.

59 Adm 56/1/242, P.C. Tamale, 11 Dec. 1925, C.C. Tamale to Puplampu, 29 Aug. 1925; Adm 56/1/390, P.C.S. Province, 28 Aug. 1925.

60 Adm 56/1/111.

61 Adm 56/1/353, Trade Returns, Krachi, 1924; Adm 56/1/407 – sampling of trade figures.

62 Adm 56/1/407.

63 Grove, J. M., ‘Some aspects of the economy of the Volta Delta (Ghana)’, IF AN, xxviii, sect. B, 1–2 (1966)Google Scholar; Kwaku, Y. G., ‘Resources and development in Atiavi Area’ (Geography long essay, University of Ghana, 1978)Google Scholar; field notes, April and July 1979. Kwaku's data was based on a rather small sampling of informants, but the general information tallies with Grove's more detailed observation. Field notes April and July 1979. See also Sutton, I. B., ‘Some aspects of traditional salt production in Ghana’, in Abraham, A. and Saffu, Y. (eds.), Traditional Technology and Development (Freetown, forthcoming).Google Scholar

64 Arhin, , Ferguson Papers, 69, 122Google Scholar, Adm 56/1/242, informal diary, J. Syme to D.C. Daboya, May 1945; A. E. Kitson, Geological Survey 1915–16, and Geological Survey Annual Report, 1916; J. E. G. Sutton, field notes, 1978; N. R. Junner, Geological Survey field notebook, no. 17, new series, 26–27 March 1937. This is a very detailed description. See also Sutton in Abraham and Saffu, Traditional Technology.

65 Kitson, cited Ibid. Davies and Dickson are similarly vague, and give little indication of dates when Daboya was a large centre.

66 Binger, Du Niger, Gouletquer, P. L., ‘Niger, country of salt’, in de Brisay, K. W. and Evans, K. A. (eds.), Salt, the Study of an Ancient Industry (Colchester Archaeological Group, 1975)Google Scholar; Pales, L., Les Sels alimentaires (sels mineraux; Problème de sels alimentaires en AOF) (Dakar, 1950).Google Scholar Lovejoy, ‘The Borno salt industry’, also claims that Daboya supplied all of Gonja. This is, I think, overstated.

67 el-Wakkad, Mohammed (trans.), ‘Qissatu Salaga Tarikhu Gonja’, Ghana Notes and Queries, 3–4.Google Scholar Wilks (Asante in the 19th Century ) prefers the Withers-Gill translation, but in this instance the information seems identical.

68 Adm 56/1/242.

69 Geological Survey of Ghana, Bulletin 28; Geological Survey of the Gold Coast, Annual Report, 1951–2, 7; Junner, Geological Survey, cited in n. 64.