Guinées in the Lower Senegal River: A Consumer-Led Trade in the Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This chapter asks why the consumer demand for Indian indigo-blue textiles, called guinées in French, turned out to be so resilient in the lower Senegal River region well into the early nineteenth century. The maps of commercial networks around the lower Senegal River show how the circuit along which guinées travelled from the coast to consumers in the interior formed part of a complex of regional trade networks. In order to identify how consumer tastes for Indian guinées had been historically shaped, the chapter investigates various factors that underpinned the regional demand for Indian textiles during the nineteenth century, and ultimately influenced the south-south economic connection woven by South Asian handicrafts.