Summary: The Importance Of Mining And Metallurgy

The Importance of mining and metallurgy to pre-industrial Sub-Saharan societies.

The following essay will evaluate the statement “Mining and metallurgy was of little significance to Africa’s pre-industrial societies”, and in doing so illustrate with reference to Sub-Saharan Africa that in actual fact mining and metallurgy was a significant part of Sub-Saharan African societies. How and why mining and metallurgy was important to different societies in terms of the political structures and the economies of these societies with reference to trade will be evaluated.
Metallurgy played an important role in the pre-colonial African societies. With metallurgy came the development of better agricultural technologies such as iron hoes and axes, the

Therefore, local regional, long-distance and international trade developed . One such trade route is the trans-Sahara trade route which provided the Islamic world with gold and iron. It is due to trade between many different cultures that led to a complex interaction of local and foreign ideas, however there were many cultural and religious barriers that prevented people from adopting these ideologies/technologies. Due to the above a new market for commodities developed and this led to people desiring material goods with which they could accumulate wealth and it is this which led to the economic stimulation which encouraged mining but more specifically gold mining

Political leaders often wanted to demonstrate their power and so they would have symbolic statues built from valuable commodities. A good example is a very powerful and successful “Asunte kingdom (after AD1600) in modern day Ghana was symbolically vested in the Golden Stool which became an emblem of the polity” . Often kings and elites were buried with valuable items, such as the Igbo Ukwu and the Benin bronzes which were used to pay respect to deceased kings and also to depict their power. The famous golden rhino that was found in a burial site in Mapungubwe along with gold beads and numerous wound wire bracelets were also used to represent elite rulers .
In conclusion mining and metallurgy did indeed play an important role in the pre-industrial sub-Saharan African society as it was in almost every aspect of their society. As agriculture improved economies developed along with skills, then in the mining aspect agricultural technologies were used, due to the mining trade routes were set up which led to societies being able to develop economically which intern meant that elites had to protect their wealth with the aid of iron weapons and finally metallurgy was important to those elites as it offered a platform on which to assert