[29] In a 2018 study, Archaeologist Augustin Holl also argues that an independent invention is most likely.[4]. Anglo American’s flagship’s Sishen iron ore mine in South Africa is tenth in terms of iron ore output with 36Mt of iron ore mined out in 2014. In some communities they were believed to have such strong supernatural powers that they were regarded as highly as the king or chief. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). There is also evidence of activities such as iron smelting that goes even further back to between 3000 and 2500 BCE. Higher plateaus, which extend through older sedimentary strata around the centre of the Congo basin, reach an elevation of 2,600 to 3,000 feet (790 to 900 metres) north of Brazzaville and exceed 3,000 feet near the Angolan border to the south. Much of the evidence for cultural significance comes from the practises still carried out today by different African cultures. Kiriama, H.O., 1993. [49] The demand for trade is believed to have resulted in some societies working only as smelters or smiths, specialising in just one of the many skills necessary to the production process. There are many strict taboos surrounding the process. [21][22] At Oboui they excavated an undated iron forge yielding eight consistent radiocarbon dates of 2000 BC. [8][4], The invention of radiocarbon dating in the late 1950s enabled dating of metallurgical sites by the charcoal fuel used for smelting and forging. It is … In this section we will explore many aspects of these resources. Its major part, however, consists of drier surfaces (low plateaus or alluvial terraces). Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). [51], MetalAfrica: a Scientific Network on African Metalworking, Archaeological evidence for the origins and spread of iron production in Africa, Duncan E. Miller and N.J. Van Der Merwe, 'Early Metal Working in Sub Saharan Africa', Minze Stuiver and N.J. Van Der Merwe, 'Radiocarbon Chronology of the Iron Age in Sub-Saharan Africa'. A much wider range of bloomery smelting processes has been recorded on the African continent than elsewhere in the Old World, probably because bloomeries remained in use into the 20th century in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, whereas in Europe and most parts of Asia they were replaced by the blast furnacebefore most varieties of bloomeries could be recorded. Examples of these date back as far as the early Iron Age in Tanzania and Rwanda (Schmidt 1997 in Childs et al., 2005 p. Over much of tropical Africa the ore used was laterite, which is widely available on the old continental cratons in West, Central and Southern Africa. Although the origins of iron working in Africa have been the subject of scholarly interest since the 1860s, it is still not known whether this technology diffused into sub-Saharan Africa from the Mediterranean region, or whether it was invented there independently of iron working elsewhere. This funded both the conference on early iron in Africa and the Mediterranean[17] and a volume, published by UNESCO, that generated some controversy because it included only authors sympathetic to the independent-invention view.[18]. The control of iron production was often by ironworkers themselves, or a "central power" in larger societies such as kingdoms or states (Barros 2000, p. 2005 pg 288). The region later became a centre for cotton-cloth and iron manufacture. Descoeudres, E. Huysecom, V. Serneels and J.-L. Zimmermann (editors) (2001). Seeking Africa's first iron men. Archaeological evidence clearly indicates that starting in the first century BC, iron and cereal agriculture (millet and sorghum) spread together southward from southern Tanzania and northern Zambia, all the way to the eastern Cape region of present South Africa by the third of fourth century AD. Thus, by the closing decades of the 18th century, South Africa had fallen into two broad regions: west and east. Johannesburg, the largest urban area in the country and a centre of commerce, lies at the heart of the populous Gauteng province. Smelting of magnetite and magnetite-ilmenite ores in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. Iron was used for personal adornment in jewelry, impressive pieces of artwork and even instruments. Ironworkers became experts in rituals to encourage good production and to ward off bad spirits, including song and prayers, plus the giving of medicines and even sacrifices. It is possible that this also led to tradesmen specialising in transporting and trading iron (Barros 2000, pg152). Many historians believe that Iron Age people reached the lake of central Africa in about 300 bc. "The Iron Using Communities in Kenya". Steel production capacity in Africa by country (Algeria, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe ) and by equipment Some developments ... citing a proposed iron and ore mining concession inside the park's boundaries and the apparition of refugees. Clist, B. [19][20] The first was whether the material dated by radiocarbon was in secure archaeological association with iron-working residues. 154). Given the multitude of potential problems with radiocarbon dating in the first millennium BC, archaeologists trying to date the earliest African metallurgy need to make routine use of luminescence dating of the baked clay from smelting furnaces. [23] Clist also raised questions about the unusually good state of preservation of metallic iron from the site. [35] Bloomery furnaces were less productive than blast furnaces, but were far more versatile. The second source of technical information in Central Africa was probably the middle valley of the Nile, where the city of Meroe had been an early industrial site with a huge charcoal industry and great piles of iron slag surrounding its furnaces. Killick, D.J. J. O. L’usage du fer en Afrique. [50], Some cultures associated sexual symbolism with iron production. In other cultures the skills are often passed down through family and would receive great social status (sometimes even considered as witchdoctors) within their community. It has a population of 21 million. These items, in addition to the production of other iron goods helped stimulate economic activity, the rise of chiefdoms and even states. of the Lake Victoria region. The topic of early iron-metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa encompasses both studies of the technology and archaeology of indigenous iron-production. Trade among European and African precolonial nations developed relatively recently in the economic history of the African continent. 2. Some were lower in society due to the aspect of manual labour and associations with witchcraft, for example in the Maasai and Tuareg (Childs et al. JSW is also contemplating to build third EAF, but first, assess the market conditions. Classement comparatif et tendances", in, Martinelli, B., 2004, "On the Threshold of Intensive Metallurgy – The choice of Slow Combustion in the Niger River Bend (Burkina Faso and Mali)". 8th century BCE: Phoenicians bring iron to North Africa (Lepcis Magna, Carthage) 8th–7th century BCE: First iron smelting in Ethiopia; 671 BCE: Hyksos invasion of Egypt; 7th–6th century BCE: First iron smelting in Sudan (Meroe, Jebel Moya) 5th century BCE: First iron smelting in West Africa (Jenne-Jeno, Taruka) Ehret, C. (2000) The establishment of iron-working in Eastern, Central and South Africa: linguistic Inferences on technological history. Killick, D.J. Iron Mountain South Africa Information Technology and Services Midrand, Gauteng 1,365 followers We connect your company to its true potential and protect your most valuable assets. Smelting is integrated with the fertility of their society, as with natural reproduction the production of the bloom is compared to the conception and birth. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). Unfortunately most radiocarbon dates for the initial spread of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa fall within this range. The natural-draft furnace was the one African innovation in ferrous metallurgy that spread widely. In summary, there is no proof that iron working technology was taken across the Sahara into sub-Saharan Africa; nor is there proof of independent invention. Magnetite sand, concentrated in streams by flowing water, was often used in more mountainous areas, after beneficiation to raise the concentration of iron. de Maret, P and F. Nsuka (1977) History of Bantu metallurgy: some linguistic aspects. The population grows at an annual rate of 2 to 3 %. A nineteenth-century Ruhr in central Africa. The second issue was the possible effect of "old carbon": wood or charcoal much older than the time at which iron was smelted. The plant is expected to start production with a year time. Ethnographical information has been very useful in reconstructing the events surrounding iron production in the past, however the reconstructions could have become distorted through time and influence by anthropologist's studies. Lagos Sta… They alone should be grinning over the … "Ideology and the Archaeological Record in Africa: Interpreting Symbolism in Iron Smelting Technology". The advent of iron in Africa. Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in West Africa by 1200 BCE, making it one of the first places for the birth of the Iron Age. The Great Mosque is considered one of the most important centres of learning in medieval Africa. ©2020 Commodity Inside Limited I All rights reserved. Opinion among African archaeologists is sharply divided. "New Evidence on Early Iron-Smelting from Southeastern Nigeria". However, not every region benefited from industrialising iron production, others created environmental problems that arose due to the massive deforestation required to provide the charcoal for fuelling furnaces (for example the ecological crisis of the Mema Region (Holl 2000, pg48)). Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). In Australia, Simandou is known “the Pilbara killer.” Australia, the world’s largest iron ore exporter, produces more than 90% of its ore exports in the western region of Pilbara. All indigenous African iron smelting processes are variants of the bloomery process. For women to touch any of the materials or be present could jeopardise the success of the production. 3 Adekola: Early Urban Centres in West Africa Published by … "[12] It is still not known when iron working was first practiced in Kush and Meroe in modern Sudan, but the earliest known iron metallurgy dates from Meroe and Egypt do not predate those from sub-Saharan Africa, and thus the Nile Valley is considered unlikely to be the source of sub-Saharan iron metallurgy. This is partly because sub-Saharan Africa has much less potential for water power than these other regions, but also because there were no engineering techniques developed for converting rotary motion to linear motion. Extensive exchange networks brought iron for hoes and spears from specialized manufacturing centres in the Mpumalanga Lowveld and the deep river gorges of KwaZulu-Natal. Their powerful knowledge allowed them to produce materials on which the whole community relied. [25], In the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria (now Igboland), archaeological sites containing iron smelting furnaces and slag have been excavated dating to 750 BC in Opi (Augustin Holl 2009) and 2,000 BC in Lejja (Pamela Eze-Uzomaka 2009). Iron-Making Techniques in the Kivu Region of Zaire: Some of the Differences Between the South Maniema Region and North Kivu. [3] Evidence also exists for earlier iron metallurgy in parts Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central Africa, possibly from as early as around 2,000 BC. "Decisions set in slag: the human factor in African iron smelting". (2006) Linguistic evidence for the introduction of ironworking into Bantu-speaking Africa. [9][10] These dates preceded the known antiquity of ironworking in Carthage or Meroe, weakening the diffusion hypothesis. The African continent is home to an abundance of natural resources that include diamonds, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, platinum, copper, cobalt, iron, bauxite, silver, and more. La Niece, S., Hook, D., and Craddock, P., (eds). Furnaces used in the 19th and 20th centuries ranges from small bowl furnaces, dug down from the ground surface and powered by bellows, through bellows-powered shaft furnaces up to 1.5 m tall, to 6.5m natural-draft furnaces (i.e. towns such as Kanem-Borno. Vansina, J. Its durability over copper meant that it was used to make many tools from farming pieces to weaponry. Although some assert that no words for iron or ironworking can be traced to reconstructed proto-Bantu,[30] place-names in West Africa suggest otherwise, for example (Okuta) Ilorin, literally "site of iron-work". or for the manufacture of composite tools combining a hard steel cutting edge with a soft but tough iron body. (2004) Review Essay. Fishing hooks, arrow heads and spears aided hunting. They are twisted iron rods ranging from <30 cm to >2m in length. The eastern tradition of smelting used furnaces as well as bellows to create the necessary draft with which to turn charcoal and ironstone into wrought iron and molten waste. The country’s crude ore reserves as of 2013 stood at 23bt containing 7.3bt of iron, the fourth largest in the world. A much wider range of bloomery smelting processes has been recorded on the African continent than elsewhere in the Old World, probably because bloomeries remained in use into the 20th century in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, whereas in Europe and most parts of Asia they were replaced by the blast furnace before most varieties of bloomeries could be recorded. Prior to the European voyages of exploration in the fifteenth century, African rulers and merchants had established trade links with the Mediterranean world, western Asia, and the Indian Ocean region. [4] info@commodityinside.com +44 (0) 208 123 7812, Steel production capacity in Africa by country (Algeria, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and  Zimbabwe ) and by equipmentÂ, Algeria steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Cameroon steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Congo steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Egypt steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Ethiopia steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Ghana steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Ivory Coast steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Kenya steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Libya steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Mauritius steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Morocco steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Mozambique steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Nigeria steel production capacity by plant and equipment, South Africa steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Sudan steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Tanzania steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Tunisia steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Uganda steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Zambia steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Zimbabwe steel production capacity by plant and equipment, Ironmaking and steelmaking capacity in Africa, Semi-finished (crude steel) steel production capacity in Africa, Flats steel production capacity in Africa, Coated steel production capacity in Africa, The full coverage of the African steelmaking capacity by plant and by equipment types, Detailed capacity segmentation by around 20 equipment by plant, Information about the future planned capacity, All data is available in excel and ready for customised analysis, Steel service centre, distributors and traders, Suppliers of raw materials such as iron ore, metallurgical coal, scrap and, ferroalloys, End users of flat steel such as automotive, construction and packaging. A major iron smelting site (14 iron smelting locations) was found 6km from the town. The Sao civilization is the earliest known civilizati… Meroe was a capital of a powerful Kingdom called Kush. This would make Oboui the oldest iron-working site in the world, and more than a thousand years older than any other dated evidence of iron in Central Africa. Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Bassey, A., Okpoko, A (eds). Blacksmiths still work in rural areas of Africa to make and repair agricultural tools, but the iron that they use is imported, or recycled from old motor vehicles. "Iron Metallurgy: Sociocultural Context". Rio Tinto Iron smelters and smiths received different social status depending on their culture. Two reviews of the evidence from the mid-2000s found major technical flaws in the studies claiming independent invention, raising three major issues. The myth of Meroe and the African Iron Age. Journal de la Société des Africanistes 62:55-68. The nearby Djenné-Djenno culture of the Niger Valley in Mali shows evidence of iron production from c. 250 BC. The linguist Christopher Ehret argues that the first words for iron-working in Bantu languages were borrowed from Central Sudanic languages in the vicinity of modern Uganda and Kenya,[31] while Jan Vansina[32] argues instead that they originated in non-Bantu languages in Nigeria, and that iron metallurgy spread southwards and eastwards to Bantu speakers, who had already dispersed into the Congo rainforest and the Great Lakes region. In the 1960s it was suggested that iron working was spread by speakers of Bantu languages, whose original homeland has been located by linguists in the Benue River valley of eastern Nigeria and Western Cameroon. We constantly consult key stakeholders in the industry and incorporate their views into our analysis. African ironworkers did however invent a way to increase the size of their furnaces, and thus the amount of metal produced per charge, without using bellows. In. The oldest natural-draft furnaces yet found are in Burkina Faso and date to the seventh/eight centuries [38] The large masses of slag (10,000 to 60,000 tons) noted in some locations in Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali reflect the great expansion of iron production in West Africa after 1000 AD that is associated with the spread of natural-draft furnace technology. Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group is a major stakeholder in the Simandou project since 1997 but has moved slowly to develop the project. Another factor of urbanization in West Africa was the presence of mineral resources, such as gold and iron, which helped to initiate the growth of a number of urban centres in the region. Kush became the centre of Iron working and trade and later the ideas spread to other parts to central Africa.In the study of history in Malawi, central Africa includes Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. This page was last edited on 1 March 2021, at 13:47. The Bantu expansion spread the technology to Eastern and Southern Africa during c. 500 BC to AD 400, as shown in the Urewe culture[5] 1 There is evidence of agriculture in Africa prior to 3000 b.c. 3. [37] Natural draft furnaces were particularly characteristic of African savanna woodlands, and were used in two belts – across the Sahelian woodlands from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and in the Brachystegia-Julbenardia (miombo) woodlands from southern Tanzania south to northern Zimbabwe.
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