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Traders
and
Trading Stations
of the Central and
Southern
Transkei
Michael Charles
Thompson
Traders and
Trading Stations of the Central and Southern Transkei
Michael Thompson
Group of Xhosa men and women travelling. pg
157
Michael Thompson spent almost his
entire working life 'trading to the traders' in the former Transkei. Born in
Umtata, no one is better equipped to lead the reader on a tour of the
Transkei trading stations. Mike spent 40 years travelling the back roads,
calling on the traders, making friends and learning the history of this
wonderful and beautiful region.
Early traders traveling in wagons in the
former Transkei.
The earliest Transkei traders
were pioneers. In 1830 the Cape Colony legalized trade beyond the Kei
River. For the first time, Xhosa speakers living in the Wild Coast were able
to exchange their cattle, hides, ivory, grain, wool and eventually tobacco,
for blankets, beads, agricultural implements, knives, horses and firearms.
Within two years there were fifty traders operating as far north as
Pondoland, where the ivory trade was particularly lucrative.
Arthur Whitfield Cizele (Prospect) Trading Store -
pg 178
Mike Thompson takes the reader on ten five day journeys,
visiting each trading store as he would have visited them on a salesman's route.
In each case, he travels in the sequence that would have been the most
likely route taken during the ten week journey.
Trip 7 - Days 1 and 2 - pg 204
Each week comprises one chapter. Maps detailing the
fifty days of adventure are provided. Trading Stations called sites are
numbered and listed. In each case, a detailed history of each station is provided.
Bashee Bridge Trading Store - Circa 1907 - pg 158
A total of 454 trading stations / sites are mentioned.
Information provided includes the date a station began trading, names of the
various owners and knowledge of the traders such as their marriages, births,
divorces and or even murders. Accounts authored by former traders are found throughout.
These detail interesting aspects of their own lives and events in relation
to the stations. There is an abundance of photographic record to enjoy.
Abakwetha Dancers - pg. 257 Xhosa
Village - pg. 248
Tribal chiefs, clans, customs, languages,
dialects, native craft, their preferences for goods and friendships between
traders and tribal people are uncovered and told.
Happy young Xhosa speakers - Transkei - pg 306
Mike's travels spanned the
height of the trading station period, falling after the Second World War. The
period ended sporadically between the years 1965 to 1980, during which time the apartheid led government prompted the demise
of the traders through its failed attempt to create independent homelands.
Many 'new owners' who had acquired a largesse were ill equipped to trade.
They simply sold their stocks and bought luxury items , moved onto
South African cities. The trading stations thus collapsed, leaving the
surrounding districts void of the essentials local people had come to depend
on. The population suddenly found itself forced to travel long distances to
purchase far more pricy items.
Colleywobbles (Xobo) Trading Station - Circa 2007 -
Cyril (Bertie) Trow
These supplementary images give the viewer an idea of
what many of the former trading stations look like today. On the left shows
what remains of Colleywobbles Trading Station, whereas the right photo looks
straight into the homesteads main living room from outside.
At this point we would point out that without Michael
Thompson's Traders and Trading Stations of the Central and Southern
Transkei, much 'if not all' the information recorded would have been
lost to the passing of time. From the people and traders you met along
life's journey, thank you Michael C. Thompson!
Click either image above to purchase this book
directly from
the author, Michael Thompson.
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