This book uses money as a lens through which to analyze the social and economic impact of colonialism on African societies and institutions. It is the first book to address the monetary history of the colonial period in a comprehensive way, covering several areas of the continent and different periods, with the ultimate aim of understanding the long-term impact of colonial monetary policies on African societies. While grounding an understanding of money in terms of its circulation, acceptance and impact, this book shows first and foremost how the monetary systems that resulted from the imposition of colonial rule on African societies were not a replacement of the old currency systems with entirely new ones, but were rather the result of the convergence of different orders of value and monetary practices. By putting histories of people using money at the heart of the story, and connecting them to larger imperial policies, the volume provides a new and fresh perspective on the history of the establishment of colonial rule in Africa.
This book is the result of a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project that has received funding by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. The contributors are both junior and senior scholars, based at universities in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US, who are all specialists on the history of money in Africa. It will appeal to an international audience of scholars and educators interested in African Studies and History, Economic History, Imperial and Colonial History, Development Studies, Monetary Studies.
Author(s): Karin Pallaver
Series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 322
City: Cham
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Money, Colonialism and African Societies
A Renaissance of African Monetary History
Multifaceted Monetary Transitions: Concepts, Themes and Perspectives
Conclusion and Paths Forward
References
Part I Early Colonial Transitions: Commodity, International and Colonial Currencies
2 “Here There Is No Gold Standard. Cows Are the Standard”. Multiple Currencies, Colonial Taxation and Monetary Transition in Upper Ghana (1896–1936)
Introduction
Interregional Commercial Networks, Livestock and Multiple Currencies in North-Eastern Ghana
Collecting Taxes and Introducing Coins: The Flaws in the Execution of Colonial Policies
Coins for Commerce: Colonial Currency in the African Markets
The “Commensuration” of Colonial Coinage and the Value of Money
Conclusion
References
3 Spheres of Money, Payments, and Credit Systems in the Colony of Senegal in the Long Nineteenth Century
The Establishment of the Colony of Senegal and the Shift in Export Commodities
Commodity Monies Exported to Senegal: Iron Bars and Guinée Cloth
A Credit System Developed with Commodity Money: The Case of Guinée Cloth
Silver Coins: Commodity or “Modern” Money?
The Modern Financial System Developed by Colonizers
The Development of a Credit System Without the Intermediation of Money
Coexistence of Multiple Spheres of Money, Payment, and Credit Systems as an Outcome of the Rational Behaviors of Economic Agents
Conclusion
References
4 The Maria Theresa Thaler in Italian Eritrea: The Impact of Colonial Monetary Policies During the First World War
Italian Monetary Policies During the First World War and Their Consequences
The Maria Theresa Thaler in a Regional Perspective
Conclusion
References
Part II Money Forms, Politics and Banking in the Transition
5 Gold, Currency and Stamps: The Rejected Plans for a State and Public Bank in Early Colonial Zimbabwe (1896–1907)
Introduction: Colonisation, Monetary Transitions and Economic Encounters, 1890–1896
Currency, Colonial State and Economy Formation: Settler Experiences to 1898
Monetary Challenges, Colonial Legislation and the Plans for the State and Public Bank
Conclusion
References
6 Beyond Imperial Interests: Settler Regimes, Capital and Africans in Colonial Southern Africa’s Currency Politics to 1920
White Settlement and Colonial Currency Questions in Southern Africa’s Coastal Enclaves to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
European Colonial Expansion, Migrant Labour and Currency Questions
The Union of South Africa, the Shift from the Gold Standard and the Problems of Specie
Conclusion
References
7 Poverty and the Transition to Instability: The Italian Lira in Eritrean History
The Lira as a Failed State Institution
The Role of the Private Sector
The Emergence of a Lira Economy
Conclusion
References
8 “We Had to Feed the People”: The Italian Lira and the Political Economy of Currency in British Eritrea, 1941–1950
Introduction
A Monetary Policy for British Eritrea
Orthodoxy Against Flexibility: The Debate on the Lira
The Hornsby Committee
The 1942 Monetary Proclamation and Its Implementation
Conclusions
References
Part III Global and Transnational Dimensions of African Monetary Transitions
9 How and Why Did the Rupee Become the Currency of Zanzibar and East Africa?
Introduction
Multiple Currencies and Fluctuating Values
Fixing the Value of Coins in Circulation
Overvaluation and Undervaluation
Conclusion
References
10 Colonial Money in Africa and National Economy-Building in Britain and Germany: Examining Relations of Agency, 1890s–1930s
Colonial Currency Policy and Economic Visions in British Africa
Approaches to Currency Reform in German East Africa
Colonial Currency, National Economies and Transnational Economic Steering
Conclusion
References
11 Another History of Money Viewed from Africa and Asia
Revisiting Inconvertible Currencies from the Ground
Peasants, Marketplace, and Atomic Currencies
Exporting Peasant Products Circulated New Currencies
Global Depression Revitalized Monetary Locality
Conclusion
References
Index
