Imperialism is a political and economic ideology of Western Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries employed to justify the economic and political activities of the western nations across their borders. It is also referred to as the penetration of foreign capitalism and territorial expansion of the European industrial powers on a world wide scale in the 19th century especially after 1870 the result of which, was the formation of large overseas empires. This was also an aftermath of the 18th century Industrial Revolution which took place across societies in Europe and America. The main focus of this article is to analyse the impact of imperialism on industrialisation in West Africa.
Industrialisation is a generic name for a set of economic and social processes related to the discovery of more efficient ways for the creation of value. It is referred to as the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one involving the extensive reorganization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing. Industrialisation is the process of developing the capacity of a country to master and locate within its borders, the whole industrial production process, production of raw materials; including production of intermediate products for other industries and to organise the production process. An industrialised country is therefore a country which is capable of producing by mechanical means most of its needed article rather than depending on importation from other countries.
The importance of industrialisation as an engine of economic growth and development cannot be overstated. Industrial production creates job opportunities at higher skill levels, facilitates denser links across the services and agricultural sectors, between rural and urban economies and between consumer, intermediate and capital goods industries. Industrialisation is said to be the hallmark for modern economic growth and development. It is regarded as a central object of economic policy in most developing economies. It is seen as a child of necessity in a nation’s economy because it accelerates the process of economic growth and development stupendously. This is why the fortune of every economy lays in itself the strength of the industrial sector which makes it the heartbeat of any economic development. In addition, industrialisation is a critical tool in poverty eradication, employment generation, and regional development policies. Finally, it can spur technological advancement and innovation as well as productivity gain and is hence able to play the development role more suitably than the agricultural sector.
From early times, the people of West Africa displayed a very dynamic response and initiative in harnessing the resources in their environment. The pre-colonial era of West Africa featured considerable craft industries in the various clans and kingdoms. The people of West Africa devised methods and techniques for making various articles or products which they needed from local resources. While the process of production was basically manual, it was able to turn out manufactured goods for local consumption as well as exchange for goods which they needed but did not produce in sufficient qualities or not at all. Prominent among these craft industries that featured in local and inter-regional trade were artefacts of wood, brass and bronze, leather, hand-woven textiles and bags, iron workings and fire burnt pottery from local clay. The forest zone especially in/and around the old Benin Kingdom excelled in wood and bronze workings. The Awka-Nri-Igbo-Ukwu area of the Igbo heartland was famous for pottery, wood carving and blacksmithing. The Oyo area excelled in calabash carving, textile weaving and dyeing. Bida area was noted for glass and brass works. The Hausa-Fulani made leather artefacts while the Ibibio-Efik communities were famous in wood carving and raffia embroidery. It could therefore be said that before the advent of Europeans, industries in West Africa were very viable. Although the process of manufacturing was crude and time consuming, the indigenous people of West Africa were able to meet practically all their basic needs. They not only produced for consumption but had enough to sell or exchange for other items they needed.
From the late 19th century, the world economy embarked on a rapid process of change due to the Industrial Revolution. During this period, new technologies greatly magnified the productivity of workers while fossil fuels pushed manufacturing and transportation systems far beyond the natural limits of human and animal power. As these advances drove the cost of industrial production down, consumption of manufactured goods sky rocked around the world. The process of industrialisation that began to transform Western European societies in the last half of the 18th century fundamentally altered the nature and impact of European overseas expansion. In the centuries of expansion before the industrial era, Europeans went overseas because they sought material things they could not produce themselves and because the felt threatened by powerful external enemies. They initially sought precious metals for which they traded in West Africa. In the Industrial era, from mainly 1800 onwards, the things that European sought in the outside world as well as the source of the insecurities that drove them there changed dramatically. Raw materials like vegetable oils, cotton needed to feed the machines of Europe rather than spices or manufactured goods became the main products the Europeans sought overseas.
The quest for the investment of the accumulated capital and the need for raw materials therefore led to imperialist expansion and colonization of West Africa. The last two decades of the 19th century and the opening decades of the 20th century marked a turning point in the determination of Britain and other imperial nations to effectively occupy the West Africa region. The main imperialists in West Africa during this period were European multi-national companies. In February 1885, the main European powers who were actively vying for control of large parts of Africa signed the Berlin Act which formalized the process for the partition of Africa. France, Germany, Britain and Portugal all had interests in West Africa and the Act provided the guidelines by which each then proceeded to define their territories. British and French imperialism in West Africa proceeded hand-in-hand. Thus, between 1900 and 1911, the whole of West Africa was brought under Britain and European sovereignty after a spirited resistance by the people. Having subdued the region, it was necessary to exploit the local resources of the region.
The general policy throughout the colonial period was to fulfil the imperial mission of securing colonial markets for products of the metropolitan industries. A major aspect of the economic policy of the colonial government was therefore to encourage the production of primary goods in the colonies and to export such goods directly to the metropolis. To them, encouraging local industries would have been a negation of the objective for which they came to West Africa in the first place. If industries were encouraged, the cheap raw materials, labour and unprotected markets for industrial manufactures which dominated the motives for exploits would have been shared between the imperial and the home industries. In order to avoid such sharing or competition, if any industries were to be established, they were those which could not be established at home or were not economically viable or rewarding enough to be established in the metropolis. Also, if industries should be encouraged, it should only be in the area of improving the quality of raw materials to be exported from the colonies and not that of manufacturing and industrial progress. The colonial authorizes also believed that encouraging local industries would have made the people self-sufficient and economically independent. Colonial industrial policies were therefore not meant to improve the lot of the people but mainly to reduce waste and cost of shipment of goods produced in the colonies.
Generally, industrialisation in West Africa during the colonial period was characterised by the following: Firstly, most industries were either of low value to bulk imports which required few sophisticated inputs like cement for the construction or simple consumer goods such as textiles, clothing, shoes, soap detergents, beer and spirit for mass market. Secondly, industrialisation was limited in character and content. Thirdly, most of the output of the industries was composed of final consumer goods hence, sales of output by other sectors for use as input was limited. Thus forward linkage of the manufacturing was generally low. Fourthly, the development of industry did not stimulate the growth of the economy generally. Fifthly, most of the industries can be described as assembly industries. Thus, the predominant industries during the colonial period consisted mainly of mining, quarrying, food production, fish processing, oil seed processing, baking, sugar and confectionery, beers, carbonated drinks, textiles, clothing, wood, furniture, paper construction materials and electricity. Everywhere, whether in Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, or Mali, the pattern was the same. Industrialisation was mainly, agro-allied, processing textiles, chemicals and building materials.
At independence, the West African economy inherited an industrial setting characterised by traditional-modern dichotomy. The traditional industrial setting is one that had been carried on from the pre-colonial times, survived the colonial economies and largely covered production and service activities related to basic household and agricultural needs at a traditional handicraft level by artisans like farmers, carpenters and weavers. This traditional setting was practically based on human and animal power and used mainly local resources in addition to metal scrapes and waste materials. On the other side of the dichotomy was the modern industrial setting which involved imported technology, machinery, equipment materials and production system.
It can therefore be inferred that imperialism prevented and distorted industrialisation in West Africa. This is because evidence has shown that prior to European contact in West Africa, the industrial sector of West African communities was progressive in growth and responsive in innovation. The West African peoples had organised both regional and inter-regional trade based on regional specialisation of production which implies the practice of the principle of comparative cost advantage. This however changed with imperialism and colonialism as the colonialists implanted in West Africans a dependency mentality, a mentality that inclined Africans, particularly the educated Africans, to depend on foreign manufactures for most of its need such as clothing, medicines, and means of transportation, and even for many of its food requirements.
References
Effevottu, E.S. 2016. Imperialism and industrialisation in West Africa up to 1960. A Seminar Paper Presented in Fulfilment of the Requirement of the Post-Graduate Course- HIS 721, Department of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.