The Economic History of Colonial Africa: Selected Bibliography

[This material begun by George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University, using the University of Alberta's Victorian Database on a CD-ROM, 1970-1995. Since then additional items have been added.]

Alam, M. Shahid. Poverty from the Wealth of Nations. Palgrave: 2000

My book is not about any specific region, but about imperialism per se (in all its forms) since 1800. Among other things, it looks at cross-country data to estimate the impact of colonialim on growth, industrialization, export orientation, and human capital. The book contains theory, history, taxonomy of sovereignty, and, finally, estimation exercises. It offers systematic refutation of the claims of free trade and the civilizing mission [of colonialism].

Alpers, Edward A. Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa: Changing Patterns of International Trade to the Late Nineteenth Century. London: Heinemann/ Berkeley, CA: U of California Press, 1975.

Brooks, George E. "Peanuts and Colonialism: Consequences of the Commercialization of Peanuts in West Africa, 1830-70." Journal of African History 1975 (16) 29-54.

Chamberlaine, Christopher. "Bulk Exports, Trade Tiers, Regulation, and Development: An Economic Approach to the Study of West Africa's 'Legitimate Trade.'" Journal of Economic History 1979 (39) 419-438.

Chanock, Martin. "A Peculiar Sharpness: An Essay on Property in the History of Customary Law in Colonial Africa." Journal of African History 1991 (32/1) 65-88.

Davies, P. N. The Trade Makers. Elder Dempster in West Africa 1852-1972. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1973.

Davies, Peter N. , ed. Trading in West Africa 1840-1920. London: Croom Helm, 1976.

Dumett, R. E. "Joseph Chamberlain, Imperial Finance and Railway Policy in British West Africa in the Late Nineteenth Century." English Historical Review 1975 (90) 287-321.

Ehrlich, Cyril. "Building and Caretaking: Economic Policy in British Tropical Africa, 1890-1960." Economic History Review 1973 (26) 649-667.

Halstead, John P. The Second British Empire: Trade, Philanthropy, and Good Government, 1820-1890. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Hartwig, Gerald W. The Art of Survival in East Africa: The Kerebe and Long-Distance Trade 1800-1895. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1976.

Headrick, Daniel R. "The Tools of Imperialism: Technology and the Expansion of European Colonial Empires in the Nineteenth Century." Journal of Modern History 1979 (51) 231-263.

Hopkins, A. G. "Economic Imperialism in West Africa: A Rejoinder." Economic History Review 1972 (25) 307-312.

Hynes, W. G. The Economics of Empire: Britain, Africa and the New Imperialism, 1870-95. London: Longman, 1979.

Lanning, Greg, and Mueller, Marti. Africa Undermined: A History of the Mining Companies and the Underdevelopment of Africa. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.

Lynn, Martin. "British Business and the African Trade: Richard & William King Ltd. of Bristol and West Africa, 1833-1918." Business History 1992 (34/4) 20-37.

Lynn, Martin."The 'Imperialism of Free Trade' and the Case of West Africa, c. 1830-c. 1870." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 1986 (15/1) 22-40.

Lynn, Martin. "Technology, Trade and 'A Race of Native Capitalists': The Krio Diaspora of West Africa and the Steamship, 1852-95." Journal of African History 1992 (33/3) 421-440.

Munro, J. Forbes. "British Rubber Companies in East Africa Before the First World War." Journal of African History 1983 (24) 369-379.

Munro, J. Forbes Britain in Tropical Africa, 1880-1960: Economic Relationships and Impact. London: Macmillan, 1984.

Palmer, Robin, and Parsons, Neil, ed. The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa. London: Heinemann/ Berkeley: U of California Press, 1977.

Pedler, Frederick. The Lion and the Unicorn in Africa: A History of the Origin of The United Africa Company 1787-1931. London: Heinemann, 1974.

Rai, Kauleshwar. Indians and British Colonialism in East Africa, 1883-1939. Patna: Associated Book Agency, 1979.

Ratcliffe, Barrie M. "The Economics of the Partition of Africa: Methods and Recent Research Trends." Canadian Journal of African Studies 1981 (15) 3-31.

Rimmer, Douglas. "The Economics of Colonialism in Africa." Journal of African History 1978.

Stafford, Robert A. "Geological Surveys, Mineral Discoveries, and British Expansion 1835-1871." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 1984 (12/3) 5-32.

Tosh, John. "Lango Agriculture During the Early Colonial Period: Land and Labour in a Cash-Crop Economy." Journal of African History 1978 (19) 415-439 [Uganda].

Wickins, Peter Lionel. Africa, 1880-1980: An Economic History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.