At the end of tours, the caravan would often terminate at Kibos, near Port Florence, where Indian merchants had established a market centre.
Here, caravan leaders, porters and soldiers were paid in kind by the Indian merchants. They received various goods such as beads (some blue ones called “nyamachi” proved popular) soap, mirrors and different types of cloth.
According to history Professor Bethwell Ogot, the goods also included different types of cloth, including some that were known as Japan, because they had been imported from the Asian country. The Indians also provided a kind of cloth that the locals called “Amerikani”, which had been sourced from the United States.
Prof. Ogot attributes this trade in cloth to the practice of nanga - that is, wearing of western clothes.
“Soon, jonanga (singular jananga), that is people who wear clothes, became a social class apart from the other people, the naked ones, in society”, wrote Prof. Ogot.
The Indian traders were also involved in a great deal of barter trade with locals. Among items bartered were pots and traditional stools. It is said that members of the Abagusii community, too, brought their soapstones here for barter.
It is worth noting that Sumo means “the place of barter trade” in Dholuo. It is this word that gave Kisumu its name.
