In parts of East Africa women played vital roles in long-distance trade in the precolonial era. In the Nairobi area, Kikuyu and Kamba women were both involved extensively in local and long-distance trade with the Maasai and each other. This trade sometimes involved trips of over 200 kilometres and was more extensive and important in providing necessities and widening socioeconomic networks than the occasional caravan trade in the area, especially before the 1880s. Conditions in the late 19th century in many areas were distinctly unsettled with definite consequences for many female traders. The increasing incursions of Swahili and European-led caravans were key in transforming gender economics, which were deeply entwined in the relationship of local to long-distance trade. Women’s functions as staples farmers and traders involved them in every aspect of trade, but also increasingly as commodities themselves when Kikuyu was drawn into the slave trade. In turn, the escalating violence accompanying increased long-distance trade and British conquest imperilled the efforts of some exceptionally successful women traders to establish themselves as independent ‘big women’ and pushed them into clientship relations with successful male traders. On the whole, the changes toward the end of the 19th century probably worked to the disadvantage of more women. Notes, ref.
