Market Day, 1600 West Africa
Courtesy of The New York Public Library
The Dutch explorer Pieter de Marees provides an account of a 1600 West African coastal food market and the women entrepreneurs that sold goods there. There are fixed Market-days “on which one finds more for sale there than on other days. If one town has its great Market-day on one day, another town has its market on another day and all food markets remained closed on Sunday. At sunrise women come to the market in the Gold Kingdom of Guinea carrying their merchandise on their heads. One group brought and sold bundles of sugar-cane which they sells quickly because the “people are accustomed to eat a great deal of it.” Others sold produce such as oranges, limes, and bananas and another sweet potatoes, yams, millet, corn, and rice. A fourth group sold chickens, eggs, and bread.
