Captive and Client Labor and the Economy of Bida Emirate: 1857-1901

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Captive and Client Labor and the Economy of Bida Emirate: 1857-1901
Author:	Mason, Michael H.
Year:	1973
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	14
Issue:	3
Pages:	453-471
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	forced labour Bida polity history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration Labor and Employment
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/180541
Abstract:	This essay, which investigates the existence of captive and client labour in the Bida Emirate (central Nigeria) between 1857 and 1901, is intended to complement and extend the discussion (suggesting that 'slave' labour was an essential factor in the productive life of a wide range of states between Sine and Salum in modern Senegal and the north-eastern emirates of Nigeria) of slavery as it operated in West Africa in the era which preceded formal European colonization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using data collected by British District Officers in the 1930s (Nupe District Note Books), oral evidence collected in 1966-72, archival and published materials, this study focuses on 1611 'slave' and client villages (tungazi, sing. tunga) to expose their functioning in, and effects upon, the society and economy of a late 19th-century African kingdom. The discussion of the formation of the tungazi in the Bida Emirate is preceded by a description of the cultural mosaic of Nupe. Notes, map, tables, summary.