Abstract:
In the history of colonial Nigeria, trade in Gum Arabic was an important relationship that
brought about a close economic contact between the colonized people of Borno province and the
European colonizers. Obviously, Gum Arabic was one of the economy resources in Colonial
Borno province and one of the basic raw materials of trade that was vigorously attracted the
attentions of the Colonial Government and European Private Companies into the region, since
the early days of colonialism. On this strength, an attempt was made to pre-review the trade in
Gum Arabic during the colonial Borno, with particular emphasis to the mode of production and
distribution. To portrait this objective, the roles played by the Colonial Government and Native
Authority in the field of production and distribution, in addition to the emergence of various
European companies and indigenous traders at the market between 1902 and 1960 were
discussed. By so doing, intricate explanation of the centers of production, location of the
markets within the province, system of marking, that provided pricing pattern, and distribution
channels to European nations were sustained. The study argues that, Gum Arabic is one of the
most important raw materials, which is today in high demand in the field of technology, medical
services and factory produces, but experiencing exponential decay in both the production centers
and the distribution channels. This study is necessitates because of the need to document the
history of Gum Arabic trade in colonial Borno province, in order to appreciate the roles of the
actors in the business and to look inward to revive the past glory in the fields of production and
distribution channels. The study largely relied on oral interviews of some of the surviving actors
in the business and archival materials that contains colonial records obtained mainly from the
National Archive Kaduna (one of the politically based Northern State of Nigeria). Therefore, the
content of the discussion was geared towards historical analyses that have to depend much on
primary sources than secondary sources. |
Citation: [GARBA, SHERIFF, and AHMED BELLO MUSTAPHA. "HISTORY OF GUM ARABIC TRADE IN COLONIAL BORNO PROVINCE OF NIGERIA, 1902-1960." IJAH, vol. 1, no. 11, 2017, pp. 1026-1040. December.] | 
International Journal of Arts and Humanities