HISTORY OF KOLANUT TRADE

HISTORY OF KOLANUT TRADE

ABSTRACT

In this research, the kolanut trade in Sokoto city between 1900 and 2014 is examined. It is impossible to overstate the benefits of kolanut as a masticatory for the inhabitants of Sokoto or the functions it plays in the dissemination of socio-cultural activities. Kolanut, like coffee, is one of the stimulants that Islam does not forbid, making its trade the only traditional industry that is still profitable today despite the advanced technology at our disposal. Even before the Jihad of 1804, there was kolanut trade between Sokoto and other regions of West Africa. Several goods were exchanged during this time between Sokoto and the southern Nigerian towns of Asante and Kurmi. Kola, however, has typically been singled out as the product by Sokoto people.

This study explores the socioeconomic and cultural interactions between Yoruba people in southwest Nigeria and Hausa kolanut dealers in Sokoto. A shared origin, trade contacts, and comparable religious convictions could all contribute to relations between various nations. Together with the formation of specific kolanut marketplaces like Shagon Goro and the well-known Kara Market in Sokoto, this trade also leads to the development of specific indigenous and Yoruba villages. The trade has also prompted the rise of well-known kolanut traders who have made significant contributions to the expansion of the kolanut industry in Sokoto city. The use of mobile phones, contemporary modes of transportation, e-banking systems, etc. in the modern day has had an impact on how nature is evolving.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1    Introduction

The only produce whose value still appears to exceed the price paid for it is the kolanut, notwithstanding the economic changes that affected Nigerian vegetable items after the arrival of British settlers.

1
Kola addiction exists among some Hausaland residents; without it, they feel like throwing up. Kola (goro), which the Hausa people love so much that they will accept it as payment for anything, will buy anything.
2
Kola is a big nut that belongs to the sterculiaceae family.
Caffeine content as well as the levels of kolatin, kolanin, glucose, starch, and fatty acids,  proteins, tennins, catechins, bataine, and other substances that function as stimulants, which may also  as coffee is  mildly additive.

3  Kola-cola nitida consists of two main species:

acuminate cola. The nitida species was first discovered on the western coast of  Africa with the highest frequency from Sierra Leone to the Republic of Benin,  variation in Ghana’s and Cote d’Ivoire’s forested regions. These regions have  regarded as the Cola Nitida origin regions. The locations that remained the longest.

Gwanja kolanuts are a significant supply of kolanuts for the West African trade routes. In  Kola trees were rarely cultivated in the early 20th century, and the nuts were utilized for trade and  obtaining food for local consumption from stray trees.

4

The second most significant commercial species of kola, Cola acuminata, has its original  distribution zone extending from Gabon to Niger.

Maybe the Cola acuminata found naturally in Angola, Zaire, and Cameroon’s mountainous regions, though it has

on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe for a very long time. However, in Nigeria, the towns of Idanre and Ijare, which are all in the state of Ondo, are currently recognized as the birthplace of Cola acuminate.

5

Kolanut, meantime, has a long history in Sokoto, and its use by the locals there was prominent in their ceremonial, social, and religious activities. Marriage, naming, and coronation ceremonies all involve the use of kola nuts.