An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835–1885

Abstract

We use a new trade dataset showing that nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa experienced a terms of trade boom comparable to other parts of the “global periphery.” A sharp rise in export prices in the five decades before the scramble (1835–1885) was followed by an equally impressive decline during the colonial era. This study revises the view that the scramble for West Africa occurred when its major export markets were in decline and argues that the larger weight of West Africa in French imperial trade strengthened the rationale for French instead of British initiative in the conquest of the interior.

Why agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa remains low compared to the rest of the world – a historical perspective

“…The transition from the production of traditional food and fibre crops to cultivation of export crops exposed communities to the uncertainties of export production, weakened local control over food security and eroded local cottage industries (Frankema et al, 2018). The economic growth experienced by local communities in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries stagnated or declined, reinforcing the economic and political domination of the charter companies (Olukoju, 2004).…”

“…Africa's transition to the production of export crops was a product of two historical events: the abolition of the slave trade and industrialization in the north Atlantic. Three processes encouraged and facilitated this: a revolution in transportation, reducing travel cost and time (McPhee, 1926); liberalization of import rules for raw materials in Europe; rising gross domestic product (GDP) in Europe, which increased demand for tropical export crops and other natural resources (Frankema et al, 2018).…”

An Introduction to the African Commodity Trade Database, 1730–2010

“…research data journal for the humanities and social sciences (2018) 1-12 developments. Revisiting older work by Hopkins (1973) and Eltis and Jennings (1988), Frankema, Williamson and Woltjer (2018) have found a prolonged rise in the net barter terms of trade for sub-Saharan Africa from the 1800s to the 1880s. Figure 2 shows that this secular price boom peaked around the date of the Berlin conference for West Africa (1884-5), which fastened the European partition of Africa.…”

Colonizer Identity and Trade in Africa: Were the British More Favourable to Free Trade?

“…Fortunately, in the last few years, new research on African trade has provided us with the necessary data to systematically test the claim that the British colonies in Africa were a free trade area. Frankema, Woltjter, and Williamson (2018) built a database of export prices from British colonies from Bluebooks, while Tadei (2018b) collected French export prices from statistical reports of the Ministry of the Colonies and several Bulletins Economiques and Annuaires Statistiques. Together, these sources allow us to reconstruct African prices for a sample of representative colonies and commodities.…”