Jutta Bolt
Senior lecturer
How Africans Shaped British Colonial Institutions : Evidence from Local Taxation
Author
Summary, in English
The institutions that governed most of the rural population in British colonial Africa have been neglected in the literature on colonialism. We use new data on local governments, or "Native Authorities,"to present the first quantitative comparison of African institutions under indirect rule in four colonies in 1948: Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Nyasaland, and Kenya. Tax data show that Native Authorities' capacity varied within and between colonies, due to both underlying economic inequalities and African elites' relations with the colonial government. Our findings suggest that Africans had a bigger hand in shaping British colonial institutions than often acknowledged.
Department/s
- Economic development of the Global South
Publishing year
2020
Language
English
Pages
1189-1223
Publication/Series
Journal of Economic History
Volume
80
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Topic
- Economic History
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0022-0507