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FEATURE FIG. 10 (above): Photograph of a caravan delivering ivory to an NAHV trading post. Late 19th–early 20th century. National Museums of World Cultures, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam. TM 600322112. Acquired from D. Kikkert. FIG. 11 (bottom): Photograph by J. A. da Cunha Moraes: Dutch trading post in Insono (Cabinda), c. 1870. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden. RV A274-25. FIG. 12 (facing page left): Carved hippopotamus tooth. L: 31 cm. National Museums of World Cultures, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam. TM A-11087. Artis donation, 1920. 124 the form of trading posts along the west coast of Central Africa. Rather than sending and then bringing back their agents with import and export goods,16 companies left a permanent staff presence in the Congo to take care of business there and to look after their commercial interests (fig. 11). The main export commodities for these trading posts were palm oil, resin gum, and ivory. The excessive demand for these commodities had devastating consequences for the environment, which included the threat of extinction for elephants along the coast. The Loango area certainly saw a drastic drop in its ivory supply. By the end of the nineteenth century, ivory could only be obtained from the most remote interior regions and had to be brought to the coast by commercial expeditions or caravans (fig. 10). The presence of European enclaves on African soil made it possible to develop new commercial networks as well as extend the ones that already existed. Trading posts created jobs and provided new market outlets for local food products. But even if Africans and whites lived side by side and a local might encounter a white person at any time, relations were always of an ephemeral nature, all the more so since the Europeans rarely left their posts. This was due to the fact that local populations had put barriers in place to prevent them from doing so. Local authorities and commercial intermediaries did not want Europeans to penetrate further into the Congo, for fear that their own position as intermediary agents—that is, as links in the chain between the interior and the coastal areas—would be jeopardized if the “other” established direct contact with the populations of the hinterlands. The NAHV’s agents were generally people born to nobility and wealth. They were typically well-educated young men about twenty years of age, drawn by the prospect of adventure in a faraway land. The length of their stay varied from a few years to several decades. Agents regularly moved from post to post, not only to gain experience but to counter loneliness, and some returned to Holland from time to time. Agents were responsible for managing their trading posts and, since most of them were alone, the pressure their work put on them was enormous. This was especially true in high trading season, when caravans arrived daily from distant areas. Leisure was a commodity in short supply.17 Far column, top to bottom FIG. 13: Detail of the tusk in fig 1: A merchant sits by the door and another man leans through the window of an accurately depicted trading post. Above at far right is a flag and center is a bird. FIG. 14: Detail of the tusk in fig 1: A caravan carrying goods destined for a trading post. FIG. 15: Detail of the tusk in fig 3: A merchant is offered goods, probably rubber.


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