ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the relationship between the commercialization of agriculture and the rise of political protest in that continent. It examines several of the major issues that arose in the countryside during the colonial period in Africa. The successful exploitation of these issues by nationalist politicians enabled them to mobilize rural political support for the movements which made Africa ungovernable by foreign powers and led to political independence throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa. The rise of commercial agriculture in Africa was, in large part, a response to the nineteenth century growth of the economies of Europe. Technological change also played an important part in the rising demand for African cash crops. Producers of cash crops in Africa thus sometimes faced a market structure which threatened to divert much of the gains to be had from commercial agriculture to other parties in the industry.
