The kingdom of Benin is located in the tropical rain forest of southern Nigeria. Here the “Oba” rules over the life and death of his subjects. In the Equatorial rain forest, ivory is plentiful and valued for its rich patina and magical powers. People of royalty in Benin wear hip ornaments made from brass that are worn for very special events. These are intricately carved and are held in high regard by its people. The Oba, or king is celebrated by the wearing of these pieces. The method of making these pieces is called bronze casting. The lost wax method of bronze casting was started in the thirteenth century by the Yoruba. The process was done by modeling a form in beeswax and coating it with clay. When the clay is dried, it is heated and melted wax is poured through vents into a hollow mold. When it has cooled the clay coating is broken away. Many pieces of jewelry are made by this method including wide bracelets that are worn by women in Nigeria. These bracelets are worn to entice young men, limit movement of walking, affording them a handsome wiggle. They are made of thin plait brass, are very wide and are not removed for many years.
One of the groups located in the rain forest region is known as the Yoruba. Their religion has many spirits, more commonly known as orishas. Because of these beliefs, many ornaments are worn and designed according to the wearers group and can protect against evil spirits. The Yoruba still believe that the buried ancient glass beads that belonged to chiefs and kings in the region are growing like plants on the ground and are worth their weight in gold. This prompted the blacksmiths in the fourteenth century to make their own beads from clay and even today, fine replicas have been made from this material.
The West African Savannah stretches from the Atlantic coast of the Senegal to lake Chad in central Africa and separates the Sahara Desert from the equatorial rain forest belt. Here is found the bush scrub and grass plains which is the home of farmers and herders. The land is much drier and infertile but is in the heart of the trade routes linked with north and west Africa. Gold is a commodity and is lavished on the gilded courts and riches of royalty. The Dogon of Mali are found here, high up in the Bandiagara Escarpment, which are a row of cliffs that stretch one hundred twenty five miles from northeast to southwest, parallel to the Niger River. Some of the cliffs are two thousand feet high. The cliffs are separated by narrow gorges. They live high up o the cliffs to protect themselves from attacks from other groups. Most of the Dogon people are farmers and living on the cliffs, they do not have a permanent resource for water. The Dogon tradition is presented as a network of man-made objects and beliefs that are linked to the powers of myth. Necklaces are made of iron and copper alloy. The jewelry is simple and each piece holds a special significance to real and mystical ancestors. For instance, the dugo necklace is made up of a series of rings and spirals, each having a connection to the identity of the wearer, family and group. It is made up of different elements from the earth, keeping close to the spirits. Most of the jewelry from this area is worn because of their religious beliefs.
The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world. It is infertile, covered with gravel plains and plateaus of sandstone and has dry river beds. At night the temperature can drop to below freezing and during the day the horizon shimmers in the heat.
This is the home of the descendants of the Berbers, the Tuareg and the Moors. These are just two of the many groups that live in the Sahara. The jewelry of these two groups reflect the way in which their lives evolved. The Tuareg are fiercely independent, maintaining their Berber ways and characteristic bold and simplistic designs. The design of their jewelry is geometric, largely formed and symmetrical.
One piece in particular, the Tuareg Cross, which was passed down from father to son when the boy reached puberty, is made up of silver and represents the four corners of the world because one does not know where one will die and it is important to be wearing this cross when one dies. The Tuareg prefer to wear silver because it is the metal of the prophet. They use their jewelry for trade in exchange for food and cloth and rings pass between men and women as a sign of affection.
Unlike the Tuareg, the Moors intermarried with the people from the west Savannah and later with the Arabs. This widened the knowledge of diversity in design and created a larger variety of jewelry throughout the Sahara. Jewelry represents capital to the people of the desert and is important for the trade of salt from Arabia and Europe. Once per year the nomads from the desert meet to have their camels graze on the salt, which is needed for their diet, that surfaces to the top of the grass from the rains of August and September. While the camels graze, the people have a festival in honor of the gathering. It is called Cure Salee and this is the time that jewelry is traded. The hair of beautiful girls is wrapped in brass as are their ankles. The anklets are called jabo and are worn to attract young men. The Moorish girl wears these until the birth of her first child. Necklaces of Carnelian and Venetian glass are believed to help cure sicknesses of the blood and are worn by women from the Sahara.
All these groups are highly religious, very creative and innovative. From dowries to the pendants, their beliefs are strong and practiced. The jewelry is magnificent!