Ivory Trade
by Michael Garcia, Nallely Silva, Larissa Gonzales, Stephanie Benavides
Introduction to the Ivory Trade
Thousands of African elephants are brutally slaughtered yearly by poachers for their tusks. This illegal trade has been going on since ancient times and is a major threat to the elephant population. According to the Great Elephant Census, prior to European colonization, the number of elephants in Africa is estimated to have been over twenty million. In 2025, that number is expected to be around 160,000. Despite action taken against this, tons of ivory are still being traded illegally every year by criminals all across the world and poses as a major threat to the population of elephants.
Ancient Times
The ivory trade has been around as early as the second century A.D. In The Journal of African History (1967) written by R. W.Beachley, describes how around this time in history, Arab merchants would export the ivory they poached and used it to create a variety of items. Ancient Egyptians are also believed to have used this valuable material. The article Ivory in Ancient Egyptposted by Jimmy Dunn states that ivory’s dense and fine material made it perfect for ancient Egyptians to carve into or cut up into sheets. Eventually, elephants were wiped out in Ancient Egypt as a result of this which led Egyptians to search for other alternatives from African countries to trade ivory.
European Colonization
Trading ivory continued to increase throughout the middle ages and became most popularized by European colonization in Africa. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Portugal’s involvement with Africa brought a dramatic impact to the ivory trade. This was the beginning of a major problem that would occur later on throughout the future. Thousands of pounds of ivory were being exported. In fact, ivory received more attention in Portugal than slavery according to The Journal of African History (1967).
Ivory was depicted as a previous and useful material to the Europeans. It was so important to Portugal that in the 1500s, Arabs in the east coast of Africa were forced to flee from the area. This expansion of the Portuguese was not a peaceful transition because heavily armed ships were sent to these Arabic areas. With the control of the east coast in the hands of the Portuguese, a newly established trading system with the Africans was created. The Portuguese traded inland through the Zambezi river. An article titled European Expansion, Conquest and the Slave Trade 15-18th Century on South African History Online explains how African’s contribution with the Portuguese directly caused Portugal to become one of the wealthiest countries in Europe at the time.
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Around the nineteenth century, an increase in the global demand of ivory occurred which brought even more attention to the powerful material ivory. A timeline by IFAW titled Ivory History Timeline presents that during this time, the United States of America and Europe demanded for more ivory simply for the creation of piano keys, billiard balls, and other expensive goods. Massive amounts of ivory were being extracted from elephants in Africa because of this. Unfortunately, due to this dramatic boom in the demand for ivory, the population of elephants began to decline by large numbers throughout the years and eventually into the 20th century.
Around twenty-six million elephants were present around the beginning of the nineteenth century according to a census taken by the Great Elephant Census. Moving into the 20th century, a drop in elephant population after the dramatic boom in ivory leaves the number of elephants to be around ten million in Africa. At this time, the United States is consuming more than two hundred tons of ivory every year. A pattern that as African colonies began gaining independence, there is an increase in the number of elephants killed. It took a few decades for people to realize the negative effect that the ivory trade was causing to Africa and its vast population of wild elephants.
Based on Key Milestones in Elephants Conservation taken by the Great Elephant Census, the Endangered Species Act was signed in 1973 which prohibits selling parts of an endangered animal or even hunting the animal itself. Shortly after this act was signed and published, the African elephant was considered a threatened species which means it was now illegal for anybody to harm or sell these endangered animals. Although having action taken against poaching, in 1988, the population divided by half and leaves the number of elephants to be around 600,000. With no sign of recovery, many countries begin to ban the trading of ivory as a whole.
Botswana’s War on Ivory
There was no doubt that the declining population of elephants was a direct result of the mass murder on African elephants. Sadly, certain African countries ignored these signs and believed in a legal ivory trading system. One of these countries was Botswana. For years, Botswana was against a full ban on trading ivory. In late 2016, however, Botswana’s Minister of Environment, Tshekedi Khama, changed their stance on the illegal trade and stated, “We support a total unambiguous, and permanent ban on the ivory trade.” Botswana, according to a National Geographic article, has over 130,000 wild elephants. A permanent ban on ivory in Botswana can possibly impact poaching as a whole and cause a change to the war on ivory.
Ivory Trade Today
Today, the ivory trade is still a constant problem going on. According the Great Elephant Census, the population of elephants has dropped by 30% in surveyed areas by the year 2016. Countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe in Africa are still pushing for a legal ivory trade in their country despite being turned down. With the cost of ivory being $1,500 per pound on the black market, it makes the fight against ivory extremely difficult to handle. If this keeps going on, the African elephant will eventually become extinct according to a CNN article called ‘Our living Dinosaurs.’
The ivory trade traces since ancient times and is not anything new. Elephants being slaughtered for ivory has been noted about by ancient Egyptians and throughout the Middle Ages by people such as Marco Polo. Unfortunately, because of ivory’s expensive material, many people are taking advantage of its preciousness by murdering thousands of innocent and endangered creatures. It aided European and African countries in the past; however, today, ivory is no longer used and poaching elephants only causes harm to a great species.
WORK CITED
"Elephants and the ivory trade: The crisis in Africa - CBBC Newsround." BBC News. BBC, 05 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Formanek, David McKenzie and Ingrid. "Study shows tragic drop in African elephants." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"Tour Egypt."Ivory in Ancient Egypt.N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Tinashe. "Africa, Portugal." Tinashe.N.p., 09 Nov. 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"Conservation."Great Elephant Census.N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"Breaking: Pro-Ivory Trade Country's Change of Heart Upends Elephant Debate." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"What is poaching? A Newsround guide - CBBC Newsround." BBC News. BBC, 12 May 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <