Latest / The Songhai Empire: Africa's Powerful Forgotten Kingdom — Fexingo History / Songhai's Copper Currency: The Salifou Dana Trade
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Songhai's gold and salt — the big pillars of trans-Saharan trade. But there's another commodity that was just as essential to the empire's economy, and it's one we haven't really touched on yet: copper. Luna: Copper? I always think of copper as more of a North African or European thing. Lucas: Right, but West Africa had its own major copper sources, and Songhai controlled some of the most important ones. The key site was Takedda, a town in what's now Niger, about a thousand kilometers northeast of Gao. Takedda was famous for its copper mines — and I mean famous across the medieval world. Ibn Battuta visited it in the 1350s and described the people there as smelting copper in their homes, trading it for slaves and gold. Lucas: The copper from Takedda was cast into rods and bars — standardized shapes that became a form of currency across the Sahel. They called it salifou dana, which basically means 'copper money' in the local Songhai language. These rods were used for everyday transactions, alongside gold dust for bigger deals and cowrie shells for small purchases. Luna: So it was like a three-tier currency system — gold, copper, and cowries? Lucas: Exactly. And copper filled a really important middle ground. Gold was too valuable for everyday stuff — you wouldn't buy a sack of millet with a nugget. Cowries, from the Maldives, were great for tiny purchases but not for anything substantial. Copper rods were the sweet spot — durable, countable, and valuable enough to buy livestock, cloth, or tools. Luna: Where did the cowries come from? I thought those were from the Indian Ocean. Lucas: They were imported by Arab and Berber traders across the Sahara, all the way from the Maldive Islands. So Songhai was plugged into a truly global trade network — cowries from the Indian Ocean, copper from the Sahel, gold from the south, salt from the desert. All flowing through markets in Gao and Timbuktu. Lucas: But the copper economy wasn't just about Takedda. There were also copper mines in the Air region, controlled by the Tuareg, and in the Dendi region further south. Songhai's rulers, especially under Askia Muhammad Toure, tried to standardize the value of copper rods to make trade more predictable. The Tarikh al-Sudan mentions that the Askia set official exchange rates — so many rods for a camel, so many for a slave, so many for a certain weight of gold. Luna: That sounds like early monetary policy. Did it work? Lucas: For a while, yes. The standardization helped merchants from different regions — Wangara, Hausa, Mossi — all use the same currency. But there were problems. Copper was heavy to transport, and different towns started clipping or adulterating the rods to cheat the system. The empire had to crack down on counterfeit copper — there are records of officials inspecting rods and punishing fraudsters. Lucas: There's also an interesting archaeological angle. Excavations at Gao-Saney — the old commercial district of Gao — have turned up hoards of copper rods and manillas, which are those U-shaped copper armlets that also served as currency. These hoards were probably buried during times of crisis, like the Saadian invasion in 1591. People hid their wealth and never came back for it. Luna: So when the Saadians sacked Gao, the copper-based economy collapsed too? Lucas: Not entirely, but it was disrupted. The Saadians controlled the trans-Saharan trade routes, and the copper mines at Takedda were eventually abandoned — partly because of overmining, partly because of political instability. By the 17th century, copper currency was being replaced by silver coins from Morocco and European cowrie imports. But for the golden age of Songhai, from the 1460s to the 1590s, copper was the backbone of everyday commerce. Lucas: I think it's easy to overlook copper when we talk about gold and salt, but without copper rods, the Songhai economy wouldn't have functioned. It was the currency that connected the farmer selling millet in a village market with the merchant buying salt at Taghaza. Luna: It really shows how sophisticated their economic system was. They had a managed currency, exchange rates, anti-counterfeiting measures — that's pretty advanced. Lucas: Absolutely. And one of the things I love about Songhai history is how much we can learn from material culture — the coins, the hoards, the trade routes. The Tarikh al-Sudan gives us the written record, but the archaeology fills in the gaps. Luna: Speaking of that — I've been listening to this show for a while now, and I have to say, the depth of research really stands out. If today's episode was worth a coffee to you, there's a link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a small way to keep it ad-free. Lucas: Yeah, we really appreciate that. It's listeners like you who make it possible to dive into topics like Songhai copper currency. So thank you. Luna: Alright, back to the copper. You mentioned the Wangara — who were they exactly? Lucas: The Wangara were a class of Mande-speaking merchants who dominated the long-distance trade in gold and copper. They were originally from the Ghana Empire, but they spread across the Sahel, forming trade networks that connected Songhai to the forest regions of the south. They were known for their commercial skills and their secrecy — they often operated in closed guilds, passing down trade routes and pricing information within families. Luna: So they were like a merchant caste. Lucas: Exactly. And they were essential to the copper trade because they controlled the distribution from Takedda to the markets. Without them, copper rods wouldn't have reached the Hausa cities or the Mossi kingdoms. The Tarikh al-Sudan records that the Wangara had their own quarters in Gao and Timbuktu, with their own mosques and judges. Lucas: There's also a fascinating story about the Kanta rebellion — the king of Kebbi, Kanta, who broke away from Songhai in the 16th century. One of his grievances was that Songhai's copper trade was monopolized by the Wangara, who he saw as agents of the Askia. By controlling the copper routes through Kebbi, Kanta was able to disrupt Songhai's economy and assert his independence. Luna: So copper was tied up in politics too. Lucas: Completely. Control of resources — gold, salt, copper — was the foundation of political power. And when the Saadians invaded, they targeted those same resources. They seized the salt mines at Taghaza and tried to take over the copper trade, but they never managed to fully replace the Wangara networks. The local economy adapted, but it never recovered its former scale. Luna: I guess that's why we don't hear about Songhai copper today — it was a casualty of the empire's fall. Lucas: Exactly. But for about two centuries, copper was the lifeblood of the Sahelian economy. And it's a reminder that money can take many forms — not just coins and paper, but rods and armlets, all backed by trust and trade. Luna: That's a really cool perspective. Thanks for digging into this. Lucas: My pleasure. And if you want to learn more, the Tarikh al-Sudan is available in English translation, and there are some great archaeological studies on Gao-Saney. We'll link some sources in the show notes.