From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce: The Commercial Transition in Nineteenth-Century West Africa

Robin Law (ed.)

ISBN 10: 0521481279 / ISBN 13: 9780521481274

Published by Cambridge university press, Cambridge, 1995

About this Item

XI - 278 pp. Cambridge university press, Cambridge 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. Gold lettering on the side. A bit of discoloring on both sides of the cover. Includes maps. Some pencil marks. Otherwise good/ very good condition Ex. library of the Library of the Ghent University: usual labels, stamps and numbers.

Seller Inventory # 011882

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce: The Commercial Transition in Nineteenth-Century West Africa
• Publisher: Cambridge university press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521481279
• ISBN 13: 9780521481274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Weight: 0.7 kilograms
• Seller catalogs:
  • Economy
  • Africa
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

This edited collection, written by leading specialists, deals with nineteenth-century commercial transition in West Africa: the ending of the Atlantic slave trade and development of alternative forms of "legitimate" trade. Approaching the subject from an African perspective, the case studies consider the effects of transition on the African societies involved, and provide new insights into the history of precolonial Africa and the slave trade, origins of European imperialism, and longer term issues of economic development in Africa.

From the Back Cover

During the nineteenth century, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was made illegal and eventually suppressed, and superseded by alternative forms of 'legitimate' trade with western Africa, especially in vegetable products such as palm oil. This commercial transition marks the beginning of the modern economic history of the region. This book considers the implications of that process for the African societies involved, through ten case-studies written by leading specialists in the field. These studies address the central issue of continuity and change in economic structures, and critically assess the argument that the transition posed a 'crisis of adaptation' for African rulers by undermining their control over the income from overseas trade. Also highlighted are the effects of transition on slavery and gender relations within Africa and its links to the growth of European imperialism, culminating in the Partition of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century.