African people have a long history of producing sophisticated textiles, which are known from evidence ranging from the fabrics themselves to renderings on ancient tombs and pyramids.
From 5,000 B.C.E., ancient Egyptians were known to cultivate flax for the purpose of weaving linen. Early hieroglyphics, sculptures, and pyramids depicted Egyptians in cloth dress, and by 2,000 B.C.E., renderings of early looms were discovered on Egyptian tombs alongside remnants of linen materials.
African fabrics were often crafted from animal hair and woven. Some of the oldest surviving evidences of these were discovered at the archaeological site of Kissi in northern Burkina Faso. They are crafted from wool or fine animal hair in a weft-faced simple weave pattern.
Other African countries had flourishing textile production as well. For instance, the Nubians in the ancient city of Meroe (who were Egypt's neighbors to the south) were famous for producing strong woven textiles. In Cameroon, there was a long history of making fabric from tree bark. Other African tribes used animal hides, furs, and even feathers in textiles. By the 5th century C.E., sturdy cotton cloth was woven in North Sudan.
Due to its harsh climate, only a few good specimens of ancient woven cloth have been found in Africa. One of these is a red, green, and blue tunic fabric excavated from a site in Niger that dates back to the 8th century C.E. Woven fibers from the 9th century C.E. were found in Nigeria in West Africa, and a woven cotton cloth of the 11th century C.E. was unearthed in Mali.
During modern times, North African societies continued to emphasize the use of natural fibers - such as cotton, wool, palm, jute, flax, and silk - for weaving practices. The characteristics of woven products that attracted Africans included colorful yarns, textured fabrics, applique designs, embroidery, and dyeing. Great dyers of Africa were located in both Tunisia and Nigeria, where men and women were assigned different jobs because of labor divisions within African society. Two of the most common dyeing techniques employed by Africans were tie-dye and resist, or batik.
Fabrics for batik are made of cotton and are put through a mechanized technique of waxing to create designs. As early as the 17th century C.E., batik was peddled by Asian neighbors. For this reason, it is suspected that batiks came into West Africa through trans-Saharan trade routes from India. The Yoruba people of Nigeria incorporated batik into their culture and it gained immense popularity. Batik designs are forms of expression, communicating everything from marriage and mood to politics and religion. The designs are mainly hand-drawn and passed down from generation to generation. Today, batik is still quite common in contemporary African clothing production.
In this day and age, one can find a rich tradition of fabric flourishing throughout Africa. The Bogolan, or ‘mud cloth’ as it is commonly called, is hand-knitted fabric native to Mali. Kente cloth, is Ghana’s nationalized fabric, with the most high-priced ones made with gilded threads for monarchs only (in the distant past). It is said that the British explorers were amazed by the beauty of the Ashanti king’s attire. Cameroon has a long history of cloth made from the bark of trees, with some fabric particularly made from the obom (tissue of the bark of the Aloa tree). Threads from the raffia are still commonly used to create bags, and clothing. Also, in West Cameroon, Kings are adorned with finely woven attire made by the best weavers of the kingdom embroidered with beads. The Chad and the Central African Republic tribes weave cotton strips on horizontal looms and use an assortment of natural dyes, and the Pygmies had bark cloth crafted from tropical fig trees.
The Kuba tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo use raffia to craft some of the most stunning hand-woven blankets, clothing, and sculptures. The Ndebele tribe of South Africa and Zimbabwe have a rich tradition of dazzling colourful quilts and blankets entirely hand-crafted, which are elegantly showcased by the typically well-dressed Ndebele women. The Yoruba people of Nigeria use anaphe wild silk and locally grown cotton to weave Aso Oke fabric, which are often worn with Aran, a brown velvet with concentric designs. The Aso Oke fabric is used to make men’s gowns (Agbada) and hats (Fila), as well as women’s wrappers (Iro) and head tie (gele). The method of making the fabric largely remained the same for centuries, but new production methods and techniques have evolved, seeing to the reduction in weight and thickness of the Aso Oke fabric, and making it more accessible for casual wear.
The Origins of African Prints
In the commercial manner of speaking, “African print” is a general term used by the European textile companies in Africa to identify fabrics which are machine-printed using wax resins and dyes so as to create batik effect on both sides of the cloth, and a term for those replicating or achieving a resemblance of the wax type effects.
The bold colors and evocative patterns of African Print Fashion are sold in the open air markets of countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Senegal, and fashioned into glamorous pieces by local seamstresses and tailors. Yet as localized as these fashions seem, the make and manufacture of African prints have always had a much more global—and much more complex—history.
African print was created from batik, which itself is of Indian origin. Batik spread from India to Indonesian islands and Japan while its later perfection was achieved by the Javanese before the thirteen century. When Java came under the political control of the Dutch by the seventeenth century, Javanese batik was introduced to Holland and thereafter to other parts of Europe. The Dutch steered interested European companies in developing foreign market for the machine-made batik which became known as wax print, and thus at the time of the Dutch trade expansion, factories were created in overseas ports or properties, in regions like India, Java, Sumatra, Ceylon and the Moluccas.
The Introduction of African Prints to Africa
Sometime around the later part of the nineteenth century, the Dutch directed their textile factories in Haalem, Leyden and those abroad to manufacture wax prints for the West African markets. Prior to that time, little amount of wax prints were brought to West Africa by the Europeans, first through the Christian missionaries who needed them for their converts; second, through the European manufacturers who produced wax prints for the African market; third, through West African soldiers who brought back with them Javanese batiks for their wives after serving between 1810 and 1862 in Indonesia.
As a result, at the dawn of the twentieth century, there was a rapid increase in the export of the fabrics to Africa, and later in the twentieth century, additional bundles of African prints were brought in from Japan and local factories to West Africa (the latter offered low-cost price ranges).
Conclusion
Textile industries have existed across Africa from time, and they have produced fabrics that date back millennia, and have probably inspired many in the world. Though not originally African, the “African Prints” which were introduced by the Europeans to Africa (largely inspired by African designs and patterns), have also contributed to the rich history of the African fashion.
References
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