African Economic Development Spring 2007

1. African Economic DevelopmentSpring 2007 Pre-colonial and colonial periods Lecture by Dr R. Serra

3. First European contacts • 15th C.: Portuguese pioneers venture along the coasts • 16th-17th C: English, Dutch and French outposts • 1652: the Dutch establish the “Cape colony” • First interest in Africa initially was from: • traders • missionaries • explorers • Traders became more and more interested in slaves as main export from Africa

4. Atlantic slave trade • Slave trade existed already in Africa • Uniqueness of Atlantic slave trade due to: • numbers involved (over 12 millions) • human suffering • demographic effects (halved 1850 African population) • socio-economic impact (European merchants and American economy thrived, most of Africa declined) • cultural consequences: notion of the African ‘savage’ • political effects: import of firearms increased conflicts • Africa integrated into the “triangular trade” system, but got the weakest share

5. Triangular Trade Route

6. Critical dates • 1440s: first slaves were taken to Portugal • 1518: first slaves dispatched across the Atlantic. • Britain, the Netherlands and France started to compete with Spain and Portugal for a share of the profits of slavery • 1770s: opposition to slavery begins in Britain • 1807: Britain declared buying, transporting and selling of slaves illegal • 1833: illegal to own slaves • under-6 children were freed, all others became ‘apprentices’ working for free for 6 years • 1838: apprenticeships outlawed as exploitative • 1865: end of slavery with the end of the Civil War

7. Exploration and conquest EXPLORATION: • Mungo Park’s first expedition to the Niger (1795) • David Livingstone explores central Africa (1850s) and reaches Victoria falls • HM Stanley travels to central Africa and helps king Leopold II • Christian missionaries, African Americans and former slaves follow with their missions, trade activities, and new settlements BUT the Europeans were then still hugely ignorant of the continent CONQUEST: • Portuguese, British and French colonies limited to the coast • 1884: Berlin conference: the ‘scramble for Africa’ begins • Principle of “effective occupation” led to conquest • Conquest was not easy, due to local oppositions • By 1905 most of Africa was under European rule

8. European presence up to 1884

9. Reasons for conquest • End of slavery required changes in world trade • Need to sustain European industrialization: • Demand for cheap raw materials • Need for a large market for industrial products • Political competition among European powers • Cultural factors: the myth of the “white superiority” and the “civilizing mission” • Evangelization

10. African colonies: evolution

11. Africa in the early 20th century

12. Modes of colonial governance • British • Indirect rule (especially in West Africa) • Areas for permanent English settlers (as in Kenya and Zimbabwe) • French • Direct rule through French prefects • The politics of ‘assimilation’

13. Political effects of colonization • Artificial boundaries and political units • Destruction of the normal course of institutional evolution • Creation of divisions among Africans • Weakening of the power and authority of local chiefs both in direct and indirect rule modes • Weak political states and institutions

14. Economic effects • Taxation • People forced to work for wage to pay taxes • Conversion from food to cash crops • Exploitation of mineral and environmental resources • Transformation of the rural economy, social structure, labor and gender relations, and migration patterns • Specialization in primary products • The ‘White settlers’: many Africans experience landlessness • Foreign companies penetrate the mining sector • Creation of uneven progress within Africa

15. Social effects • Exacerbations of ethnic divisions • Racial tensions • Gulf between African elites and the rest • Tension between European and African cultures, manners, habits • Ex: formal (‘white’ or ‘mission’) education and traditional education • Africans’ lack of self-confidence

16. Africa and the World War II • Africans fought the war in all major continents: many died or were prisoners • Compensation afterwards was limited • African economies were further squeezed and their dependence on primary exports deepened • But import-substituting industries were established • Trade unions became very important • People’s political consciousness was raised • European rule came under closer questioning • Africans joined with progressive voices, in Europe and USA, in putting pressure on Europeans to end colonization

17. Towards independence • The Pan-African movement from DuBois to nationalism • Resistance to colonial powers deepens and becomes less episodic after WWII • Organized political liberation movements • African elites in Europe and North America

18. Independence • 1956: Sudan • 1957: Ghana • 1958: Guinea • 1960: 14 French colonies + Nigeria • 1963: The Organization of African Unity created to end colonialism and promote unity and cooperation • The great challenge: “create nations where there were only states”