Latest / The Songhai Empire: Africa's Powerful Forgotten Kingdom — Fexingo History / The Songhai Empire's Lost Hippo Ivory Trade
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Songhai's military, its scholars, its salt mines. But there's one trade that was massive and almost nobody talks about today: hippo ivory. Luna: Hippo ivory? I thought ivory was all elephants. Lucas: That's the common assumption. Elephant ivory gets all the press, but hippo ivory was prized across the Sahel and even exported north across the Sahara. And it came from one group in particular: the Sorko. Lucas: If you've been following the show, you know the Sorko were the riverine specialists who hunted hippos and crocodiles along the Niger. They supplied meat, hides, and ivory to the empire. Their hunting tradition was ancient — predating Songhai itself. Lucas: The Tarikh al-Sudan mentions the Sorko as a distinct caste, and they were essential to Sonni Ali's navy. But their economic role in the ivory trade is often glossed over. Luna: So how did the hippo ivory trade actually work? Lucas: The Sorko would hunt hippos using harpoons from small boats called hiyo. They worked in teams, and the kill was a big communal event. The tusks — especially the lower canines, which are denser than elephant ivory — were then brought to market. Lucas: But they didn't just sell it themselves. The fari-mondio, the imperial official overseeing trade and tribute, regulated the flow. A portion went to the Askia as tribute, and the rest entered commercial networks. Lucas: From Timbuktu and Gao, hippo ivory was traded to the north. Leo Africanus, writing in the early 1500s, noted that Timbuktu's markets had both elephant and hippo ivory, and that the hippo ivory was sometimes mistaken for elephant by foreign merchants. Luna: Wait, really? They couldn't tell the difference? Lucas: Apparently not easily. Hippo ivory has a finer grain and is harder to carve, but to an untrained eye, a tusk is a tusk. And because hippo ivory was often smaller, it was used for different items: decorative boxes, combs, amulets, and inlay work. Lucas: Al-Sa'di, the 17th-century Timbuktu scholar, wrote about the wealth of the city and mentioned ivory as a major export. But he didn't always distinguish between hippo and elephant. We have to piece it together from archaeology and European accounts. Lucas: Archaeological digs at Gao and Timbuktu have turned up hippo ivory artifacts. At Gao-Saney, the ancient trading city, excavators found fragments of hippo tusk alongside elephant ivory. The evidence shows that hippo ivory was a consistent part of the trans-Saharan trade for centuries. Luna: So when did this trade decline? Lucas: It started to fade after the Moroccan invasion of 1591. The Saadian occupation disrupted the entire Songhai economy. The Sorko lost their imperial patrons, and the trade networks fractured. Also, hippo populations along the Niger may have declined due to overhunting. Lucas: By the 18th century, the trade in hippo ivory from the middle Niger was a shadow of what it had been. The rise of European maritime trade also shifted the ivory market toward coastal elephant tusks. Lucas: But there's another reason hippo ivory disappeared from the historical record: it was often lumped in with elephant ivory. Merchants didn't always specify, and later historians assumed 'ivory' meant elephant. Luna: So the hippo ivory trade is like a ghost economy — there but invisible. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a reminder that the Songhai economy was incredibly diverse. We think of salt, gold, slaves — but hippo ivory was a luxury item that connected the Niger River to the Mediterranean world. Lucas: There's even a mention in the Tarikh al-Fattash that Askia Muhammad once sent a gift of ivory to the Sharif of Mecca. It doesn't specify hippo, but given the abundance of hippo in the Niger, it's plausible. Luna: That would be a huge status symbol. Lucas: Absolutely. Ivory was associated with power and prestige. And the Sorko, though socially lower, were the ones who made it possible. They were the backbone of this trade. Lucas: One other detail: the Sorko used every part of the hippo. The hide was made into shields and whips, the meat was dried, the fat was used for oil. Nothing was wasted. The ivory was just the highest-value product. Luna: It's amazing how much we can piece together from scattered sources. Lucas: It is. And it's why shows like this matter — we can bring these forgotten stories back to light. Speaking of which, a quick honest thing: this podcast is ad-free and listener-funded. A handful of people chip in monthly via buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what keeps us going. Luna: Yeah, it's a small group but it makes a huge difference. If you've been enjoying these deep dives into Songhai, that support is what keeps them coming. Lucas: Anyway, back to the hippo ivory. One last fascinating point: in the Dendi region, south of Gao, the Sorko continued their hunting traditions into the 20th century. Some of the techniques they used — like the harpoon with a detachable head — are almost identical to what's described in early sources. Luna: So the legacy of that trade survived long after the empire fell. Lucas: Exactly. The Sorko kept their knowledge alive. And today, archaeologists are finding more hippo ivory in West African sites than previously thought. So we're still learning. Luna: Makes you wonder what other hidden economies are out there. Lucas: That's the thing about history — there's always more beneath the surface.