African states were sometimes very effective actors in the 19th century through capitalising on economic possibilities

Résumé du document

The nineteenth century has been a turning point in the West African economic history. Indeed, the transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century marked the intensification of commerce and the progressive switch from slave trade to agricultural resources trade; as a result of the industrial revolution which took place in Europe, especially in Britain; 'the demand for new products in industrial processes and consumption increased and some of these could be found readily in Africa'. Thus, raw materials were imported by Europeans from Africa, in exchange for manufactured products such as clothes, firearms, gunpowder and spirituous liquors. The middlemen between the African producers and the European capitalists formed a specific class of indigenous merchants which grew from the 1830s to the 1850s, and after a decline of their prosperity during the 1860s, they flourished again from the 1870s to the 1890s. Most of the time, the merchants who dominated in crop produce where 'the same large-scale merchants who had controlled the slave trade'.

Extraits

[...] “Rise and Fall of an African Merchant Class on the Gold Coast 1830-74”, in Cahier des Etudes Africaines, XIV Soumonni, E. compatibility of the slave and palm oil trades in Dahomey, 1818-1858”, in Robin Law, From Slave Trade to ‘Legitimate' Commerce. (Cambridge, University Press, 1995). pp. 78-92. Internet sources “Abolitionism”, http://en.wikipedia.org History of Ouidah”, http://www.museeouidah.org Bill Freund, Making of Contemporary Africa. The Development of African Society since 1800”. p.63. Edward Reynolds, “Rise and Fall of an African Merchant Class on the Gold Coast 1830-74”, p.253. Robin Law, “Ouidah. The Social History of a West African Slaving ‘Port' 1727-1892”, p.210. [...]

[...] Patrick Manning, “Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960”, p.10. Elisée Soumonni, compatibility of the slave and palm oil trades in Dahomey, 1818-1858”, p.80. “History of Ouidah”, http://www.museeouidah.org/HistoryOfOuidah.htm “History of Ouidah”, http://www.museeouidah.org/HistoryOfOuidah.htm Patrick Manning, “Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960”, p.332. Elisée Soumonni, compatibility of the slave and palm oil trades in Dahomey, 1818-1858”, p.82. Edward Reynolds, “Rise and Fall of an African Merchant Class on the Gold Coast 1830-74”, p.253. Edward Reynolds, “Rise and Fall of an African Merchant Class on the Gold Coast 1830-74”. [...]

[...] This essay will discuss to what extent the African states were sometimes very effective actors in the nineteenth century through capitalising on economic possibilities. All along my thoughts, I will focus on the case of the kingdom of Dahomey, major exporter of slaves and later of palm On the one hand, I will examine the illegal slave trade that occurred at the beginning of the nineteenth century, up to the 1860s. And on the other hand, I will study the transition period from the slave trade to the “legitimate” commerce, insisting on the fact that both trades successfully coexisted in Dahomey from the 1830s to the 1860s. [...]

[...] This practice illustrates how merchants circumvented the law by pretending to be involved in legal commerce. Thus, the firm of Régis proved that both slave trade and palm products trade could be compatible. Even if the policies implemented by Ghezo in Dahomey largely contributed to the compatibility of illegal and legal commerce, slave trade was ended in the 1860s, leaving Dahomey dependent on the palm products trade. But era of agricultural exports opened a sustained period of economic growth for Dahomey”[21], up to the French occupation in the 1890s. [...]

[...] The process of abolition of slavery had been accompanied by the expansion of the commerce of crops, and illegal commerce (slave exports) had progressively been replaced by “legitimate” (i.e. non-slave) commerce (raw materials). This transition period occurred from the early 1840s to the 1860s. Thus, after 1830, the economy of West Africa was “based on the export of natural produce”[14], especially palm oil, cocoa, ivory, rubber, cotton, and gold dust. But in order to be the most competitive as possible in these bilateral exchanges between Europe and West Africa, the indigenous merchants kept practicing slavery. [...]