The economic impact of colonial rule

The economic impact of colonial rule on African society was much less profound than colonial administrators liked to think. The period 1919–39 was one of ‘immobilisme’ in which what little change there was did not stand comparison with what was taking place in the outside world. For the African peasant the growing of cash crops during the colonial period was, except in the cocoa- and coffee-producing areas, primarily geared to paying taxes and supplementing the subsistence economy with imported luxuries. The extent of the involvement of the peasant in the cash crop economy was limited by the extent of the colonial transportation system. In French West Africa the railways too were the main focus of strikes.