Need help with research

[Pertinax]

I read with great interest the article 'VOYAGE IRON': ANATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE CURRENCY, ITS EUROPEAN ORIGINS, AND WEST AFRICAN IMPACT, kindly provided by Ian.

The authors describe in detail the supply of iron from Europe to the coast of West Africa from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Twenty-five pages list countries, companies, ships, shipment volumes, and much more. During this period, thousands of tons of iron were imported to West Africa.

On page 25, a reasonable question arises:

"In European iron, therefore, artisans in coastal West Africa encountered a material that was quite unsuited for making bladed tools in the traditional African manner. Why, then, did voyage iron continue to find a market?"

Funny, isn't it? Iron was transported from Europe to Africa for several centuries, and its uses there remain unknown.:смущенный:

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Pertinax

...

On page 25, a reasonable question arises:

"In European iron, therefore, artisans in coastal West Africa encountered a material that was quite unsuited for making bladed tools in the traditional African manner. Why, then, did voyage iron continue to find a market?"

Funny, isn't it? Iron was transported from Europe to Africa for several centuries, and its uses there remain unknown.:смущенный:

Yuri, a couple of possibilities come to mind. First, the Africans may have found a way to use the relatively carbon-poor voyage iron from Europe for weaponry by adding some carbon to the iron. Alternatively, they could have used voyage iron for non-weapons objects, such as "ceremonial" or "currency" iron objects. There are many "bladed objects," some of unusual shapes, that have been described in this way.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Ian

Yuri, a couple of possibilities come to mind. First, the Africans may have found a way to use the relatively carbon-poor voyage iron from Europe for weaponry by adding some carbon to the iron. Alternatively, they could have used voyage iron for non-weapons objects, such as "ceremonial" or "currency" iron objects. There are many "bladed objects," some of unusual shapes, that have been described in this way.

Yes, Ian, you're right; this study explores these possibilities.

I'd like to point out that this is a very "honest" article; the authors admit, "At this point, conclusions based on documentary evidence must give way to speculation. However, some degree of hypothesizing is permissible."

They put forward three hypotheses.

The first is that the iron obtained from maritime voyages was not used as an industrial raw material; its purpose was wealth preservation.

The second is that maritime iron was recognized as an inferior material and accepted as such. It could have been used to make unsatisfactory tools that wore out quickly, but the availability of sufficient iron at least allowed African smiths to craft tools morphologically consistent with local traditions.

And the third is that maritime iron was combined with the durable, high-carbon iron produced by African smelters. And they immediately note that direct evidence for this is scarce, and that metallographic studies of pre-colonial iron artifacts have yet to reveal a single example of composite tool making.

Another interesting aspect is that marine iron (European iron) was always in demand on the West Coast in Guinea-Bissau, the Bights of Biafra, the Bight of Benin, and the Gold Coast, but found surprisingly few buyers in West Central Africa.

In short, there are still more questions than answers. :смущенный: