An examination of the varied ways, outside and inside markets, in which
Asante producers obtained labor, land and capital during the
transformative era.
This is a study of the changing rules and relationships within which
natural, human and man-made resources were mobilized for production
during the development of an agricultural export economy in Asante, a
major West African kingdom which became, by 1945, the biggest regional
contributor to Ghana's status as the world's largest cocoa producer. The
period 1807-1956 as a whole was distinguished in Asante history by
relatively favorable political conditionsfor indigenous as well as
[during colonial rule] for foreign private enterprise. It saw
generally increasing external demands for products that could be
produced on Asante land. This book, which fills a major gap in Asante
economic history, transcends the traditional divide between studies of
precolonial and of twentieth-century African history. It analyses the
interaction of coercion and the market in the context of a rich but
fragile natural environment, the central process being a transition from
slavery and debt-bondage to hired labor and agricultural indebtedness.
It contributes to the broad debate about Africa's historic combination
of emerging "capitalist" institutions and persistent 'precapitalist'
ones, and tests the major theories of the political economy of
institutional change. It is written accessibly for an interdisciplinary
readership.
Gareth Austin is a Lecturer in Economic History, London School of
Economics and Political Science, and Joint Editor of the Journal of
African History.
