The Road of Agate to The Tuareg-
A Journey Around The World
"The Tuareg women of Timia (Air mountains in the Central Sahara, Niger) have for centuries worn pieces of agate
in the form of necklaces, bracelets and on their heads. Agate jewellery made for Africa was produced first
in Cambay (India) and, later (since the mid-19th century) in Idar-Oberstein (Germany) from uncut agate having
been transported from Brazil to Idar-Oberstein. From Idar-Oberstein agate went via Liverpool to Cairo or Lagos
or via Paris and Marseille to Dakar. Within the African continent African traders had exclusive control over
trading. Agate jewellery has for centuries been a global commodity, but not much was known about its final
use. Local vitality was pivotal for the rise of Cambay and Idar-Oberstein. The women of Timia were not
objects or victims of global marketing, rather they actively appropriated foreign jewellery."(Gerhard Spittler)
The reason why the gemstone industry survived through more then half a millennium in Idar-Oberstein,
a town of 35.000 citizens with little importance to the world's history during it's thousand year lifespan,
is more by circumstance than by sound business planning.
The collapse of gem cutting in Europe during the late Middle Ages spared Idar-Oberstein's lapidaries
more because of missing alternatives than by full order books. Small local mineral deposits supplied
the poor folks in a rough, sparsely fertile countryside with at least something useful to do. Lots of
young people immigrated to the "New World" in the hope for a better life, and the first Idarers
discovered the vast mineral resources of Brazil.
At this time the region shifted between French
and German souvereignty a few times already and the French, starting to colonize big parts of Africa,
used Idar-made agate beads for trading slaves and riches with the locals. Soon they brought the
african bead designs, which were used not only as in jewellery, but as a currency, too,
to Idar-Oberstein and the production of "African money" began. During the second half of
the 19th century the "Afrika-Geschaeft", the africa business, kept the industry afloat.
Some villages in the vincities of Idar solely lived on the income of "African money" production during this period.
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