The domestic economy

The domestic economy was a subsistence economy, which was uniform, unchanging and therefore uninteresting. Such an economy is worthy of only cursory attention because the obstacles impeding its development can readily be identified and are familiar enough—at least to experts. West Africa’s economic past is the record of a continuous dialogue between geography and history—from the very beginnings of agriculture to the introduction of modern industry. Demography is, or, more accurately, should be, a central theme in African economic history, for the greater part of the continent’s gross ‘national’ product was, and is, derived from the application of human power to the land. The most important economic unit in virtually all West African societies was, and is, the household. Migration was a well-ordered and necessary feature of animal husbandry in West Africa. Salt was in many ways the most interesting and important of the minerals produced in West Africa.

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