Problems faced by the long distance traders
Long distances from the interior to the coast exhausted traders.
Bad weather distorted trade e.g. prolonged drought, heavy rains etc.
Lack of enough funds to facilitate traders and there were no credit institutions.
Lack of defined roads in the interior to ease movement.
Trading items along the coast got finished e,g, Ivory so they had to look for them from distant places.
It was difficult to obtain items like slaves because people were not willing to be enslaved.
Lack of guns for hunting elephants and slaves.
Barter system of exchange was unreliable because it could lead to double coincidence of wants,
African chiefs imposed heavy taxes on traders,
Conflicts in the interior disrupted trade and frustrated the traders.
Slaves could die before reaching the coast due to mistreatment.
Some commodities e.g. ivory and gold were very bulky and difficult to carry. This made trade to be very complicated.
Lack of enough porters to carry bulky goods and yet there was no other means of easy transport,
Kiswahili language was not widespread in the interior and this made communication difficult.
Hostility of some tribes in the interior e.g. Nandi, Masai. They fought and killed some traders.
Wild animals in forested areas scared Arab traders and hindered them from trading in such areas.
Scarcity of food and clean water for Arab traders who penetrated the interior.
Some coastal traders feared the interior due to tropical diseases.
The arrival of the Christian Missionaries to decampaign slave trade affected the Long Distance Trade.
We are examining the topic are the following sub topics.
Factors that led to the growth ofthe long distance trade
Problems faced by the long distance traders
Role of the Baganda in Long Distance Trade
The Yao in the long distance trade
The Impact of long distance treade
Reasons for the collapse of Long Distance Trade
Why did the Arabs had little interest in the interior of East Africa up 1840?