Money, Slavery and Political Change in Precolonial West Africa

该项目汇集了迄今为止分开分析的西非殖民前历史的两个重要方面。它将新的泛大西洋视角放在奴隶制和非洲侨民的历史上，以及关于连接西非和大西洋世界的货币的新档案数据中，为非洲和世界历史上经济不发达的历史提供了一种新的方法：核心论点是，从17世纪到19世纪，跨大西洋奴隶贸易和连接非洲和世界经济的货币构成了导致殖民前西非不发达的同一经济结构的一部分。自20世纪60年代以来，历史学家一直将跨大西洋奴隶贸易的历史作为塑造殖民前西非历史的关键因素来关注，关于奴隶贸易是否扩大了西非本身的奴隶制形式的重要讨论(罗德尼1966；Fage 1969；LoveJoy 1983)。与此同时，经济史学家更详细地研究了殖民前西非的货币历史，以及货币进口和货币使用如何反映出也将非洲和世界经济联系在一起的社会和经济变化(阿德巴约，1994年；盖耶，2004年；霍根登/约翰逊，1986年；伊尼科里，2007年；洛夫乔伊，1974年)。然而，到目前为止，还没有对奴隶制历史和货币历史相互依存的方式进行系统的分析，这反映了殖民前西非政治变革的关键方面，这些变化创造了19世纪末殖民主义兴起时面临的土著经济和政治结构。因此，PI的关键假设是，如果把奴隶制历史和货币历史放在一起分析，就会更清楚地分析奴隶制历史和西非经济不发达的出现。在早期大西洋经济体中，被奴役的非洲人被用作货币和信贷形式(参见Newson/Minchin 2007；Newson 2013)，将跨大西洋奴隶贸易理解为促成不发达的经济复合体的一部分，可以真正有助于理解非洲和世界的经济变革进程；这种关注还揭示了经济模式和跨文化交流是如何联系在一起的。与此同时，关于奴隶制历史中跨大西洋移民的新证据(Barcia 2014；Candido 2013；Ferreira 2012；Green 2012)表明奴隶制、种族主义和经济分歧的历史如何提供密切的关联：正如阿尔伯特·埃克胡特在巴西的Kongolese大使的肖像所表明的那样，直到17世纪40年代，种族刻板印象并不普遍，这种刻板印象的出现伴随着1660年后西非大西洋奴隶经济的快速扩张(Gikandi 2011)。自非洲货币历史上次详细辩论以来，新的档案数据和取得的理论进展可以在该领域的新方向上建立。新制度经济学对信任的关注在很大程度上建立在非洲的例子上(科恩1971年；格雷夫1993年)。在荷兰大西洋的背景下，Nimako和Willemsen(2011)确实认为，需要部分地从世界经济史的角度来看待奴隶贸易；同时，关于尼日利亚北部殖民地前奴隶制的研究表明，奴隶在19世纪被用作一种货币形式(霍根多恩1977)。因此，将非洲奴隶制和经济变革的历史联系起来可以对核心领域作出主要贡献。因此，该项目使非政府组织能够加强其出版物(《绿色》2011年；2012年；2016年)所发挥的领导作用。这一领导地位将通过以下方式得到进一步巩固：指导从事支持该假说的特定案例研究的博士后研究人员；与Ecobank和OCR A级考试委员会一起举办公共影响活动；在巴西组织学术讨论会，以及在美国和英国组织讨论小组。

This project brings together two vital aspects of precolonial West African history which hitherto have been analysed separately. It places new pan-Atlantic perspectives on the history of slavery and the African diaspora alongside new archival data on the currencies linking West Africa and the Atlantic world, to offer a new approach to the history of economic underdevelopment in African and world history: the core argument is that the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the currencies linking African and world economies from the 17th to the 19th centuries formed part of the same economic structure which led to underdevelopment in precolonial West Africa.Since the 1960s, historians have focussed on the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a key factor in shaping the history of precolonial West Africa, with important discussions as to whether the slave trade expanded forms of slavery in West Africa itself (Rodney 1966; Fage 1969; Lovejoy 1983). Meanwhile, economic historians looked in some detail at the history of currencies in precolonial West Africa, and at how currency imports and currency-use reflected social and economic changes also linking Africa and the world economy (Adebayo 1994; Guyer 2004; Hogendorn/Johnson 1986; Inikori 2007; Lovejoy 1974). Yet until now, there has been no systematic analysis of the way in which the history of slavery and the history of currency were interdependent, reflecting key aspects of precolonial West African political change which created the indigenous economic and political structures which faced the rise of colonialism in the late 19th century.The PI's key hypothesis is therefore that the analysis of both the history of slavery and of the emergence of economic underdevelopment in West Africa emerges more clearly if slavery and currency histories are analysed together. Where enslaved Africans were used as forms of currency and credit in early Atlantic economies (cf Newson/Minchin 2007; Newson 2013), understanding the trans-Atlantic slave trade as part of the economic complex which contributed to underdevelopment can make a real contribution to understanding processes of economic change both in Africa and in the world; such a focus reveals also how economic patterns and cross-cultural exchange were connected. Meanwhile, new evidence on pan-Atlantic diasporas in the history of slavery (Barcia 2014; Candido 2013; Ferreira 2012; Green 2012) show how histories of slavery, racism, and histories of economic divergences offer close correlations: where racial stereotypes were not universal as late as the 1640s, as the portraits of Kongolese ambassadors by Albert Eckhout in Brazil make clear, the emergence of such stereotypes went with the rapid expansion of the Atlantic slave economy from West Africa after 1660 (Gikandi 2011).The new archival data found -- and theoretical advances made -- since African currency history was last debated in detail can build on new directions in the field. New institutional economics' focus on trust builds heavily on African examples (Cohen 1971; Greif 1993). In the Dutch Atlantic context, Nimako and Willemsen (2011) have indeed argued that the slave trade needs to be viewed partly through the lens of world economic history; meanwhile, work on slavery in precolonial northern Nigeria has shown that slaves were used as a form of currency in the 19th century (Hogendorn 1977). Bridging the histories of slavery and economic change in Africa therefore can produce leading contributions to core fields.The project thus allows the PI to enhance the leadership role which their publications (Green 2011; 2012; 2016) have developed. This leadership will be further consolidated through mentoring a postdoctoral researcher working on a specific case study that supports the hypothesis; staging public impact events alongside Ecobank and the OCR A Level examination board; and organising an academic colloquium in Brazil, and discussion panels in the USA and the UK.