African Clothing
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An Egyptian drawing of Nubians (from modern Ethiopia), about 1300 BC
Because cloth was expensive to make, people didn't want to cut it and waste any. Like people in Europe and Asia at this time, most people wore the cloth wrapped around themselves, rather than cutting it and sewing it to fit them the way we usually do. Men who were working outside wore just a loincloth (like a bathing suit), wrapped around their waists and tied in various ways. Women, and men who were more dressed up, wore a long piece of cloth wrapped around them in various ways, and sometimes covering their heads. Sometimes they used one long piece for a skirt, and another for a shawl covering their shoulders and chests. In Egypt, however, people wove plain linen tunics, like long t-shirts, and wore their clothes more shaped to their bodies. Soon people in Meroe, south of Egypt, also wore these tunics.
People first began to weave cotton in India, also around 2000 BC, but cotton weaving soon spread to Egypt, and all down the east side of Africa. By the 400's AD, the people of Meroe and Kush were growing and weaving cotton for their clothes. Before 800 AD, people along the eastern coast were trading with India for cotton and silk cloth in fancy patterns, and for glass beads. Then people in East Africa began to dress a lot like the Indian people they traded with. Women wore tight pants under loose pleated skirts, with thin veils. By 800 AD, cotton cloth from India was being traded to Central Africa. Then by about 1000 AD, West Africans were importing cotton cloth too, across the Sahara Desert from North Africa, and soon in this whole area most people wore cotton clothing.
Wool came pretty late to Africa, because even though people in West Africa were keeping sheep by the 400's AD, the kind of sheep they kept didn't grow wool. They were only good for eating. But in North Africa, people did wear wool from their sheep. They also used the wool to weave tents, blankets, and rugs on vertical looms. When camels started to be common, people also began to weave camel hair for clothes.
To find out more about African cloth and clothing, you might want to buy these books, or get them at your local library:
Traditional African Costumes Paper Dolls, by Yuko Green (1999).
African Girl and Boy Paper Dolls, by Yuko Green (1997).
African Textiles, by John Gillow (2003). Not for kids.
