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Department of Archaeology

 
Read more at: How old are the trade routes in Central Africa? Developing a history of the exchange networks through the cases of Copperbelt and Niari Basin copper deposits

How old are the trade routes in Central Africa? Developing a history of the exchange networks through the cases of Copperbelt and Niari Basin copper deposits

Long-distance exchange networks played key roles in the socio-political history of Central Africa before the 20th century, but they are poorly known prior to the 19th century owing to a scarcity of written sources covering the earlier centuries. Archaeological data, however, suggest that major 19th-century trade routes were well established several centuries before.