ABSTRACT
English government has brought peace and security and abolished slavery. The economic impact of the colonial governments in the period up to 1918 was felt most in the following fields: the development of a communications system; the introduction of a portable currency; and in a negative sense, the prevention of the alienation of the land from Africans to Europeans. The policy of both French and British colonial governments during the early years of colonial rule towards the expatriate trading companies was predominantly one of laissez-faire. The general indolence of colonial governments in affairs agricultural in the early years was a reflection of the general policy that agricultural production was essentially a problem for the African peasant, even if, as in French Africa, he had to be forced into it as for instance with the compulsory production of cocoa in Ivory Coast under Angoulvant’s regime.
