East Africa has a long tradition of trade with regions around the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Some 40 Swahili coastal cities -from Mogadishu in the north to Sofala in the south- benefitted most from this trade. 

Zanzibar and Kilwa in particular played a pivotal role in connecting East Africa to the world economy.

Land-locked Uganda occupied a crucial part in the supply of local products for export trough the caravan trade.

In 2005 we started a large program in East Africa for 90+ local consultants to guide companies into the EU and regional markets. What started as an initiative to increase the efficiency of our work resulted in a new way of working: these local consultants were later deployed to do the same in other African countries. 

Trade history

Earliest period

Ancient pottery near the Persian Gulf demonstrates the existence of trade routes with Zanzibar as far back as 10,000 B.C. An ancient pendant discovered near Eshnunna, Iran from 2,500 B.C. has been traced to copal imported from the Zanzibar region.

Traders from Yemen, Shiraz and West India visited Zanzibar as early as the first century CE. They used the monsoon winds to sail across the Indian Ocean and land at the sheltered harbor of present-day Zanzibar Town.  Although the islands had few resources of interest to the traders, they offered a good location from which to make contact and trade with the towns on the mainland.

The earliest written document that contains information regarding trade in East Africa is the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea compiled around the end of the first century AD. The Periplus is a Greco-Roman guide that describes trading opportunities along the coasts of the Red Sea, the East Coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Dhows

Dhows are the type of ships that traders from India and beyond use for their trade with East Africa. Trading windows are limited due to the monsoon winds from April to October towards Africa and the monsoon winds from November to April homebound. 

Therefore they arrange for local traders to bring most of the goods to a limited number of hubs on the coast or islands

Trade rapidly increases in the mid-8th century and by the close of the 10th century Zanzibar, Mombasa and Pate become substantial trade hubs. More to the south Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania's major medieval city-state, controls a number of smaller ports stretching down to modern-day Mozambique. 

Kilwa remains a major power in East Africa until the arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century.

Similarly, caravan traders from the African Great Lakes and Zambezian Region come to the coast to trade for imported goods, especially Indian cloth.

By 1300, external trade is increasing both ways: glass beads are being imported from India, and porcelains, transshipped either in India or in the Persian Gulf, are arriving from China. Extensive trade with the island of Madagascar develops.

Caravan trade

The prosperity of the coastal cities is largely due to the supply of local goods from the interior by indigenous trading systems passing products from tribe to tribe until finally they reach the coast. 

This intertribal trade on a limited scale, especially between women of neighboring tribes, is the beginning of long distance trade, carried out between the people of the interior and those at the coast, covering long distances.

In the 19th century, these systems develop into the caravan trade. However, in East Africa these caravans are different from the ones in other areas because of the means of transportation.  

They are completely dependent on manpower: tsetse flies prevent the use of animals. Hence the trade caravans consist of many thousands of people. 

Because of the high costs involved, Indian merchants are the financiers; Arab and Swahili traders are the organizers. 

Five routes

• Two routes come from Ethiopia and Somalia and are dominated by the Somali's. 

• A third routes comes from Bunyoro -present day Uganda- to Mombasa. It is the most important of the caravan routes. 

• Another route starts in Ujiji at the shore of Lake Tanganyika. It stretches over 1200 kilometers via Tabora and ends in Bagamoyo just opposite of Zanzibar. 

• The most southern route comes from Congo to Kilwa Kasiwani, the political, cultural and economic centre of present-day Tanzania. 

These trade routes integrate the coastal strip into the world economy.

Colonial era

Portuguese era

In 1497, a squadron of Vasco da Gama leaves Portugal, rounds the Cape and continues along the coast of East Africa. 

In Mombasa, a local pilot is brought on board who guides them across the Indian Ocean to their main goal: conquering the lucrative spice trade in south-western India from the Arab middle men. 

It is the advent of a dark period in the history of East Africa with the slave trade as a sad low point. 

The resistance of the coastal cities against the Portuguese that have destroyed their main business is crushed with the construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa. 

With Mombasa in their grip, the Portuguese control the entire coast and trade routes that lead from there to India. Ironware, weapons, beads, jewelry, cotton, and silks are imported; ivory, gold, ambergris, and coral are the main exports. 

Omani era

Around 1700, the Omani's start fighting back to regain control over the trade.  Some cities side with the Portuguese, others with the Arabs. 

With the Omani victory, a century follows during which -despite a succession of Omani incursions- the East African coast remains largely free from the dominance of any outside power.

This helps to reestablish the African participation in the regional trade with the Middle-East and India.

Western era

The different attitude of the Omani’s attract an influx of Western traders, of which the most important are the Americans.

They are the first to conclude a trade agreement with the Omani’s to capture the cloth trade to East Africa. The cheap cotton cloth henceforth comes to be known as “Americani”. The British and French follow with trade agreements and some Germans from the Hanseatic towns move in at about the same time.

British trade, however dies away; but the USA and France both make purchases of more than $500,000 a year, while exports to India, particularly British India, are higher still. Some of the main items of trade, such as ivory, are traditional; copal, sesame, cloves, cowries, hides, and coconut oil become more important.

Zanzibar

Zanzibar has played a pivotal role in trade to and from East Africa.

From the 9th century, Swahili merchants on Zanzibar start operating as brokers for long-distance traders from both the hinterland and Indian Ocean world. Persian, Indian, and Arab traders frequent Zanzibar to acquire East African goods like gold, ivory, and ambergris and ship them overseas to Asia. 

In 1698, the Sultan of Oman takes control of Zanzibar. It is the start of the famous Zanzibar Imperium, that will last for the better part of the 19th century. Thanks to the city’s growing success in turning itself into the main entrepôt for the trade in the area, Zanzibar soon rivals Mombasa as the trade hub for the whole coastline.

In 1840, the Sultan moves the capital from Muscat to Zanzibar. A lucrative trade in ivory thrives, along with an expanding plantation economy centering on cloves. Hundreds of dhows sail across the Indian Ocean from Arabia, Persia and India bringing iron, cloth, sugar and dates.
With a favorite monsoon, the traders leave, with their ships packed full of tortoiseshell, copal, cloves, coir, coconuts, rice and ivory.

Zanzibar's spices attract ships from as far away as the United States, which establishes a consulate in 1837. Stone Town shows its two faces: the largest and wealthiest city in East Africa, "a fabled land of spices" but also the hub of the Arab slave trade, "a vile center of slavery".

In the 20th century, a period of political unrest affects Zanzibar’s economic position. Germany and Britain contest the island, revolutions and multiple governments follow; not a climate for economic prosperity, in spite of Soviet and Chinese aid.

East African Tradeblock

Kenya is active within regional trade blocs such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community, a partnership of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. The aim of the latter is to create a common market of its member states modelled on the European Union. Among the early steps toward integration is the bloc's customs union, which has eliminated duties on goods and non-tariff trade barriers among members. Kenya is a member of the East African Community trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the Greater Horn of Africa.

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