Podcast Summary: The Origins Foundation Podcast

Episode 591 - Paul Hubbard || A History Of Ivory Trade In Africa
Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Robbie (The Origins Foundation)
Guest: Paul Hubbard (Archaeologist, Historian, Anthropologist, Guide)

Episode Overview

In this compelling episode, Robbie invites renowned archaeologist and historian Paul Hubbard to unravel the intricate, complex, and often brutal history of the ivory trade in Africa. The discussion dispels common rhetoric surrounding modern hunting, diving deep into historical evidence and the sheer scale of historic ivory exploitation. Paul provides rich archaeological context, highlights the global demand for ivory, and explores the very human fascination with elephant tusks through millennia.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Challenging Modern Perceptions

• Debunking Modern Rhetoric:
  • Robbie opens with a reflection on persistent arguments against hunters:
    "Oh, you hunters are going to kill out all of the big tuskers."
    The conversation aims to contrast these claims against historical records, questioning whether selective hunting today can compare to historic mass exterminations.
    • [10:09] Robbie: "These large tuskers are becoming rarer and rarer and rarer in the African system. ...If the idea of persecution of big elephants with big ivory is a true research statement, then why do we still have big elephants today?"

Ancient Origins: Human-Elephant Interaction

• Archaeological Records:

  • Evidence of elephant exploitation in southern Africa dates back at least 30,000 years, primarily for meat, marrow, and, eventually, ivory tools.
  • [12:29] Paul Hubbard: “In southern Africa…we've got evidence of exploitation of elephants…going back 30,000 years ago, which is, of course, during the Stone Age.”

• Early Use of Ivory:

  • Ancient Egypt (6,000 years ago) saw the start of elephant hunting for ivory, leading to local elephant extinctions by 2,000 years ago.
  • Egyptians favored ivory for its unique tactile and visual properties, using it for jewelry, inlays, and ceremonial objects.

Formation and Expansion of Trade Networks

• Establishment of Trade Routes:

  • From approximately 1,800 years ago, trade networks developed along Africa’s east coast, led initially by Middle Eastern traders and later by Arabs.
  • The rise of Swahili trading kingdoms, spawned by these interactions, cemented East Africa’s centrality to the ivory trade.
  • [23:21] Paul Hubbard: “One of the big things that starts to happen is as they’re coming around the Horn of Africa, the guys basically realize, hey, this is untold riches here…they realize, hang on there, there’s a lot of elephants here.”

• Ivory’s Place Among Commodities:

  • Ivory, alongside gold and slaves, was a central commodity, often even preferred due to its reliability and market value.

Archaeological Sites and Early Trade Evidence

• Schroda & Kwagandaganda:

  • Significant quantities of ivory debris, jewelry, and unworked tusks found at key sites indicate both local use and active exportation predating colonialism.
  • Linguistic analysis shows a lack of distinction between “bone” and “tusk”—tusks gained value only due to external demand.
  • [32:35] Paul Hubbard: "...in a lot of South African, southern African, sorry, people's languages, tusks are not distinguished from other bones…That’s quite fascinating to me."

• Estimating Pre-Colonial Ivory Sourcing:

  • Natural elephant mortalities alone could provide multiple tons of ivory annually, without active hunting.

Techniques and Scale of Elephant Hunting

• Professional Elephant Hunters:
  • Groups like the Sukuma, Kamba, Waboney, and Wata in East Africa developed specialized (and often brutal) methods for hunting elephants from about 1300 AD onwards.
  • Methods included pit traps with spikes, deadfalls, axes to hamstring elephants, and poisoned arrows.
  • [45:05] Paul Hubbard: “...in that group, you had one guy who carried a massive axe…they would leap out and sever the tendons on the back feet…It is brutal. It is courageous beyond words.”

Quantifying the Historical Slaughter: A “Staggering Scale”

• Medieval To Early Colonial Period (1000–1600s):

  • Example: Records from Sofala port estimate at least 30,000 lbs (approx. 13,600 kg) of ivory exported per year, totaling over 3 million lbs in a century, equating to tens of thousands of elephants.
  • [54:27] Paul Hubbard: “...an average of 30,000 pounds of ivory was exported from Safala every year for a century.”
  • Multiple ports operated on the East coast, compounding the impact.

• Accelerated Destruction: Portuguese, Colonial & Victorian Period (1500–1900):

  • Portuguese introduction of guns and gunpowder drastically increased elephant killings for ivory—ivory became a primary export to Europe.
  • 19th-century colonial period marked by an explosion in demand, especially in the UK and the U.S.
  • [68:13] Paul Hubbard: “By 1875, they [UK] are importing 670 tons a year of ivory…”
  • America’s imports increased to nearly 2,000 tons a year by the late 1800s.
  • Robbie and Paul calculate that, conservatively, as many as 20 million elephants may have been killed in East and Central Africa in the 50 years between 1840–1890.

• Ivory as “Plastic of Its Age”:

  • Ivory mass-produced into combs, billiard balls, piano keys, and mirrors, revolutionizing Western consumer products.
  • [63:02] Paul Hubbard: "...ivory in, in my opinion, was the plastic of its age, okay. Because you could shape it so easily and so beautifully into so many useful and also frivolous things as well."

Societal & Economic Implications

• Ivory’s Role in Global Trade:

  • The booming East African ivory trade fueled industrial and economic growth in the U.S. and the UK.
  • The first steam-powered cotton mill in the U.S. (Massachusetts) was built to produce trade cloth exchanged in Africa for ivory, which then powered the American ivory-products industry.
  • [83:53] Paul Hubbard: “...Trade in ivory from Africa to North America was responsible for some major industrial revivals on the east coast of...USA...the first steam powered cotton mill...was built in Massachusetts...to trade for ivory to bring back to North America.”

• Interlink with Slave Trade:

  • The mass exploitation of elephants and humans coincided; enslaved people carried tusks from the interior to the coasts.

Genetics, Survivorship, and “Big Tuskers”

• Why Are There Still Big Elephants Today?

  • Despite historical, near-genocidal levels of slaughter, large tuskers still exist, suggesting that genetics, while important, are only one factor. Time, nutrition, and population bottlenecks play a profound role.
  • [76:05] Robbie: “...I think that there's probably four or five factors that drive big tusked elephants, namely time, nutrition. I think those two factors pay a major role. Yes, genetics for sure. But I don't think genetics play as big of a role as we think..."

• Decline in Average Tusk Size:

  • Data shows a decrease in average tusk weights but not the complete disappearance of giants.
  • Claims that trophy hunting or selective harvest alone is responsible for a lack of big tuskers ignore the historical scale of prior destruction.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On the Mind-Boggling Scale of the Slaughter:

  • [71:06] Robbie (after calculation): "That is 20 million elephants. If you went on the 11.5 kilo number."
  • [71:09] Paul Hubbard: “Shit. How about it?...the records are imprecise, but it gives us an idea of the staggering scale..."

• On Big Tuskers and Misconceptions:

  • [87:37] Paul Hubbard:“Well, you know what I would counter that with is I say, well, how common were they back then, then?...It’s a bit like humans where we get the guy who’s 7 foot 2, there’s one a generation. ...it’s not because...all of the elephants were that size."

• On the Need for Nuance in Conservation Discussions:

  • [90:01] Robbie: "...We try and live in truth, man. You know, and if you've got a statement, say it and then back it up."
  • [90:13] Paul Hubbard: “That’s the joy… the more I’ve learned, the less I know.”

Key Timestamps

• Debunking modern rhetoric: 10:09
• Ancient Egypt & extinction in North Africa: 16:08–21:52
• Rise of Swahili trading kingdoms: 23:15
• Archaeology of ivory at Schroda: 32:35
• Specialist elephant hunting techniques: 44:55
• Sofala port: mass ivory exports: 54:27
• Victorian era & the American boom: 60:10–68:39
• Largest tusks & misrepresentation of history: 86:40–89:02
• Socioeconomic impact in the U.S.: 83:53–84:49
• Conclusions & book recommendations: 79:36–81:01

Recommendations and Further Reading

Books:

• Great Tuskers of Africa — Johann Mahreis & David Hadaway
• Ivory: Power and Poaching in Africa — Keith Somerville

Free Resources:

• Internet Archive (archive.org): Search for out-of-copyright books on “African elephant” and “ivory.”

Academic Article:

• E.J. Milner-Gulland & J.R. Beddington (1993): "Exploitation of Elephants for the Ivory Trade: A Historical Perspective"

Closing Reflections

Paul Hubbard and Robbie conclude that, compared to the industrial slaughter of elephants in the past, current selective hunting is a blip in terms of impact. The resilience and survival of big tuskers are products of a complex web of genetics, environment, and, above all, history. The real story of the African ivory trade is one of staggering scale—a cautionary tale for conservation moving forward.

[90:49] Paul Hubbard: "The more I've learned, the less I know."

This summary captures the rich detail, wide-ranging historical perspectives, and candid scholarly tone of the episode. Perfect for those interested in the truth behind the myths of ivory, elephants, and African conservation.