Synopsis
We talked about trade moving across Asia and into Europe, but what about trade going North–South? Like the Silk Road, there was a lot of Trans-Saharan trade going back a long time. Goods like salt, ivory, gold, beads, and metal goods–as well as enslaved people–crossed hostile conditions to travel from as far south as Ghana and Mali to northern Africa and the Middle East, and from there into Europe. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss these lesser-known but incredibly interesting routes.
Notes
1/ The Ever Given: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given (yeah, we recorded this a while ago).
2/ Ducks: The Friendly Floatees Spill! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees_spill
3/ John Oliver talks about trucks and waiting! (Start at the 5 minute mark.)
4/ Sacha Baron Cohen turned out to be a terrible person. Surprising? Not really.
5/ Nintendo was originally founded in 1889. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo
6/ Cannabis discovered in Chinese tombs
8/ Shoshonean Prayerstone Hypothesis
9/ History of the De Beers Corp: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~lcabral/teaching/debeers3.pdf
10/ History of diamond advertising: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/
11/ Somehow over the past two years since we recorded this, the salt/salary thing turned into a throwaway line in Em’s new novel Troth. Never say I don’t learn nothin’ from this.
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Wonderful Episode, as usual! WHO said,
“Too Woke?” Never! That accidental Friendly Floatees spill allows study of ocean currents was terrific. Cannabis in ancient Chinese tombs was Cool, too. Do New Yorkers no longer retire to FL, so no Blue migration there? That there’s always been trade is wonderful; that there’s (almost) always been slavery, esp the most dehumanizing kind, is a curse we’re still fighting here. Thank you for another great discussion! Looking forward to more.