This pioneering and celebrated work was the first, and remains the standard, account of the economic history of the huge area conventionally known as West Africa.
The book ranges from prehistoric times to independence and covers the former French territories, as well as those colonised by the British. It criticises conventional beliefs about economic backwardness, offers an alternative account that explains the particular configuration of poverty that characterised the pre-colonial period, and assesses the consequences of the region’s interaction with the wider world – from the growth of the Saharan and Atlantic trades to the rise and demise of colonial rule. This edition contains a substantial new Introduction that discusses the development of the subject during the past 50 years, evaluates the debate over the original interpretation, and provides a valuable guide to additional reading, bringing the reader up to date with current scholarship on the subject, as well as providing avenues for further independent research.
Appearing at a time when the study of African economic history is enjoying a revival and is engaging economists as well as historians, the book fills a large gap in African studies, provides newcomers with a stimulating point of entry into the subject, and contributes to our understanding of wider issues of global underdevelopment.
Author(s): A. G. Hopkins
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: xiv+400
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of maps
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Preface to the first edition
Preface to the second edition
Introduction to the second edition
1 Beginnings
2 The 1960s: opportunity and optimism
3 Approaches to the African past
4 The domestic economy in the precolonial era
5 External trade
6 The economic basis of imperialism
7 An economic model of colonialism
8 Completing the open economy
9 The open economy under strain
10 The economy in retrospect
11 Endings
1. Approaches to Africa’s economic past
2. The domestic economy: structure and function
1 Natural and human resources
2 Production
3 The distributive system
4 Internal constraints on growth
3. External trade: the Sahara and the Atlantic
1 Trans-Saharan trade
2 Trade across the Atlantic
3 The abolition of the external slave trade
4 International trade and economic growth
4. The economic basis of imperialism
1 The economy of ‘legitimate’ commerce
2 Economic motives in partition
3 An explanation of imperialism in West Africa
5. An economic model of colonialism
1 Open and closed economies
2 The performance of the open economy, 1900–60
6. Completing the open economy
1 The expatriate role
2 The African contribution
3 The mechanics of export growth
7. The open economy under strain
1 Specialisation in the export sector
2 The domestic economy
3 Strains on the open economy, 1930–45
4 Strains on the open economy, 1945–60
5 The open economy modified
8. The economy in retrospect
Bibliography
Index
