Labour and Living Standards in Pre-Colonial West Africa: The Case of the Gold Coast

• Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world today. But its current status has skewed our understanding of the regional economy before colonization. Using records from the English Royal Africa Company, alongside contemporary published accounts, Rönnbäck is able to reconstruct the material wealth and living standards of the population at a time when the Atlantic slave trade brought money and men into the area. He explores the racial bias that permeated the colonists’ accounts and how the ‘lazy African’ stereotype was used to justify slavery. The study will enrich our understanding of long term West African economic development and the issues that still exist today.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Africa

Ghana

Gold Coast

living standards

dependency theory

development

labour history

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