- Apr 27, 2011
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In 1911 a party was set out on a expedition to Barbary (middle and western coastal regions of North Africa - what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), led by a South African government official Russell Thornton. Its goal was to catch breeding pairs of Barbary ostriches and bring them to the ostrich farms of the Western Cape, where the first ostrich had been domesticated in 1863.
However, the birds were not found there, but in Sudan. By foot, train, horseback and paddle boat the team journeyed to Kano, in the north of Nigeria, the major trade thoroughfare, to check the stock of incoming feather caravans for the right type of feathers. Finally they found what they were looking for - the sellers were Arabs from beyond the Timbuktu. They lived in French territory, isolated by the desert, hundreds miles away from any inhabited lands.
Thornton asked the South African authorities the permission to proceed. The team waited months for the approval. They were allowed to spend seven thousand pounds to buy 150 ostriches. But the French banned the export of live birds from their territory. Anyway, the explorers proceeded into the prohibited lands.
Pursued by French spies, they divided into 3 parties and in effort to put them off the scent they had been buying bales of worthless feathers. Somehow they contrived to get 156 Barbary ostriches. Thousand miles the porters carried the birds to Lagos. Then there was another 3 thousand mile trip to Cape Town. Surprisingly, 140 ostriches survived.
Unfortunately, in 1914 the whole feather business shattered due to the inconstant world of female fashion. Almost overnight women tossed away heavily ornamented hats.
One of the expedition men said: 'Ostrich feathers were no more in demand as articles of adornment, and the only use for them was for making feather dusters.'
The onset of WWI created a new craze for practical clothing. And then, it was tricky to get in the automobile wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Thus the capricious women's fashion put an end to the successful industry and brought financial ruin to wholesalers, manufacturers and farmers in Africa, the United States and Europe.
Source: Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews And A Lost World Of Global Commerce by Sarah Abrevaya Stein
http://www.artistsandart.org/2009/08/ostrich-feathers-craze.html
I first read about Barbary ostriches and Russel Thornton in a book entitled "Dream Birds".
It is known that because of the feather crash, hundreds, possibly thousands, of feather barons, once at the zenith of the economy, were reduced to begging. It was during this period that thousands of ostriches were killed or were neglected.
Shortly before the crash, Thornton brought back the ostriches he captured to South Africa. It would've been a success if it weren't for WWI.
Does anyone know what happened to Thornton's birds? Were they also killed when the feather economy plunged or did the South African government keep them in hopes that feathers would again become a fashion statement. (This is what Max Rose, "The Ostrich King", did to his ostriches.)
However, the birds were not found there, but in Sudan. By foot, train, horseback and paddle boat the team journeyed to Kano, in the north of Nigeria, the major trade thoroughfare, to check the stock of incoming feather caravans for the right type of feathers. Finally they found what they were looking for - the sellers were Arabs from beyond the Timbuktu. They lived in French territory, isolated by the desert, hundreds miles away from any inhabited lands.
Thornton asked the South African authorities the permission to proceed. The team waited months for the approval. They were allowed to spend seven thousand pounds to buy 150 ostriches. But the French banned the export of live birds from their territory. Anyway, the explorers proceeded into the prohibited lands.
Pursued by French spies, they divided into 3 parties and in effort to put them off the scent they had been buying bales of worthless feathers. Somehow they contrived to get 156 Barbary ostriches. Thousand miles the porters carried the birds to Lagos. Then there was another 3 thousand mile trip to Cape Town. Surprisingly, 140 ostriches survived.
Unfortunately, in 1914 the whole feather business shattered due to the inconstant world of female fashion. Almost overnight women tossed away heavily ornamented hats.
One of the expedition men said: 'Ostrich feathers were no more in demand as articles of adornment, and the only use for them was for making feather dusters.'
The onset of WWI created a new craze for practical clothing. And then, it was tricky to get in the automobile wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Thus the capricious women's fashion put an end to the successful industry and brought financial ruin to wholesalers, manufacturers and farmers in Africa, the United States and Europe.
Source: Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews And A Lost World Of Global Commerce by Sarah Abrevaya Stein
http://www.artistsandart.org/2009/08/ostrich-feathers-craze.html
I first read about Barbary ostriches and Russel Thornton in a book entitled "Dream Birds".
It is known that because of the feather crash, hundreds, possibly thousands, of feather barons, once at the zenith of the economy, were reduced to begging. It was during this period that thousands of ostriches were killed or were neglected.
Shortly before the crash, Thornton brought back the ostriches he captured to South Africa. It would've been a success if it weren't for WWI.
Does anyone know what happened to Thornton's birds? Were they also killed when the feather economy plunged or did the South African government keep them in hopes that feathers would again become a fashion statement. (This is what Max Rose, "The Ostrich King", did to his ostriches.)
