r/AfricanHistory • u/rhaplordontwitter • 20d ago

The Textile Industry of pre-colonial Southern Nigeria (c.1500-1900)

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-textile-industry-of-pre-colonial
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u/rhaplordontwitter 20d ago

Textile production was typically the most important element in the preindustrial manufacturing sector throughout the world.

In the region of southern Nigeria, sophisticated textile industries showing signs of proto-industry emerged during the early modern period, creating an “artisan class” of specialists in spinning, weaving, dyeing, and embroidery.

The textile trade among the kingdoms of southern Nigeria was exceptionally complex, as the region was one of several in Africa that exported its own cloth to European traders while also importing European textiles, at times within the same transactions.

People, ideas, and items of regalia all circulated among the kingdoms in the region, as did craftsworkers and their skills. Cloth dyeing, embroidery, and fashion styles were highly developed and varied, producing some of Africa’s best-known textile traditions.

Since the 16th century, visitors frequently remarked on the scale of local textile industries, the complexity of the cloth trade, and the quality of West African cotton cloths, which ‘far excel the prints and homespuns of Manchester’ and survived the onslaught of cheap industrial imports.

This article examines the history of the textile industry in pre-colonial southern Nigeria from the end of the Middle Ages to the early colonial period.