Big Is Sometimes Best: The Sokoto Caliphate and Economic Advantages of Size in the Textile Industry

Abstract

The Sokoto Caliphate, established following the 1804 jihad led by Shehu dan Fodio, was the largest single polity in nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa.2 Considerable economic benefits derived from its very size, and some of these benefits were passed on to producers and consumers throughout the Caliphate and even far beyond, although those who launched the jihad, probably did not have any of these concerns in mind at the time. As the textile industry was one of the most important industries in the Sokoto Caliphate, the size of the Caliphate had enormous economic advantages for the producers of indigo-dyed textiles and for those involved in the textile trade. It brought various cloth producers from very different traditions within the Caliphate together, while also bringing different textile traditions from outside into a new intimacy with these groups. Thus, the quality of cloth improved and the variety increased for textiles produced within the Caliphate as the nineteenth century progressed. The producers of textiles were very quick to realize some of the advantages of the new mega state for their own livelihood. In this paper, I argue that the actual quality of the textiles produced within the Caliphate definitely improved as the nineteenth century progressed, and that this improved quality was accompanied by an increase in a greater variety of different kinds and qualities of cloth which were made available. Furthermore, this expansion in textile production had the added advantage of making textiles which were increasingly cheap and therefore somewhat easier for more individuals to obtain.