The precolonial period has been relatively neglected in recent historiography. The aim of this panel, however, is to present a variety of strands in current research in pre-colonial economic history. If a common theme is emerging, it is the relationships between coercion and economics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The precolonial period has been relatively neglected in the recent research of historians (as opposed to archaeologists). The aim of this panel, however, is to present current research in pre-colonial economic history. Richard Reid, complementing his book on the kingdom of Buganda, is currently researching economic as well as military aspects of warfare in precolonial East Africa, and will present a paper on the former. Broadly continuing the theme of the relationships between coercion and economics, Jelmer Vos explores changes in slavery within Kongo (northern Angola). David Richardson will give a paper from his collaborative work with David Eltis on the slave trade from the Niger Delta. Gareth Austin’s paper considers how Africanists might best respond, with reference to economic history, to our intellectual ‘trade deficit’: the fact that the theoretical frameworks used by Africanists have much more often been derived from European experience than vice versa.
This paper aims to examine the utilisation of resources in the practice of eastern African warfare, and the economic objectives of conflict across the region, with a view to understanding the relationship between economy and violence. Competition for resources, both regional and 'external' (i.e. long-distance commerce), and expenditure will be the heart of the analysis.
This paper offers a northern Angola perspective on the debate about transitions in slavery after the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It shows that the long-distance slave trade continued in the late-nineteenth century, albeit on a smaller scale. Slaves became increasingly assimilated in Kongo family structures.
The best response which Africanists can make to theorizing which offers 'general' models from European experiences is not to reject 'meta-narratives' on principle, but rather to work towards more genuine generalisations through properly comparative historical research. Examples are offered of propositions derived from Africa's economic history which may illuminate the history of other regions too.