From slave trade to ‘legitimate’ commerce: The commercial transition in nineteenth-century West Africa | Papers from a conference of the Centre of Commonwealth Studies, University of Stirling

During the nineteenth century, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was made illegal and eventually suppressed, and superseded by alternative forms of 'legitimate' trade with western Africa, especially in vegetable products such as palm oil. This commercial transition marks the beginning of the modern economic history of the region.
This book considers the implications of that process for the African societies involved, through ten case-studies written by leading specialists in the field. These studies address the central issue of continuity and change in economic structures, and critically assess the argument that the transition posed a 'crisis of adaptation' for African rulers by under-mining their control over the income from overseas trade. Also high-lighted are the effects of transition on slavery and gender relations within Africa and its links to the growth of European imperialism, culminating in the Partition of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century. The book is a major contribution to the interpretation of nineteenth-century African history.