In the late fifteenth century the Portuguese opened up new maritime routes to the Sub-Saharan coast of Africa. Along this coast they established trading stations and inaugurated commerce with the peoples living there. In the region along the Atlantic coast of the Gulf of Guinea between the Komo and Volta Rivers, in what is today the nation of Ghana and the eastern edge of Côte D'Ivoire, they found a thriving commerce in the production and export of gold, among other items, such as salt. The region acquired its name from this trade, the Gold Coast. Initially, the advent of the Europeans had little effect on the communities of the area, but eventually their influence was instrumental in producing changes in the structure of the social and political organization of the entire region.
At contact and for sometime thereafter the Gold Coast was composed of a plethora of small states. According to Kea, there were about forty to fifty political entities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There was some diversity in these systems, but they were all founded on similar social structure and technological and production techniques that constituted a political economy of extensive trade, markets, market production, and gold based monetization. The region exhibited a consistent pattern of socio-political domination with social stratification and an urban hierarchical formulation.(1)
Within this system were two modes of social production upon which the socio-political edifice was constructed. The first, and main mode, was the tributary method. This was based on the social separation of the peasantry and the ruling class, which held a monopoly on political power and the extraction of tribute. The central pillar of the arrangement was the pattern of land ownership which was invested in the king and redistributed to the ruling class. The peasantry paid rent in money and labor for the use of the land and they also had a tax burden to defray. The peasants were subject to the subordinate role in this dominant - subordinate relationship and the extraction of surplus from the peasantry was probably in the range of fifty percent of their production. The key aspect of the system was the insistence on the payment of rent and taxes in money (gold). The change from rent in kind to rent in money occurred sometime around 1500. This monetized the economy and compelled the peasants to live close to the towns where they would be able to convert their produce into cash. It also encouraged the concentration of craftspeople in town and led to a higher degree of the division of labor.(2)
Towns' growth and urbanization started early on the Gold Coast. Urbanization had its beginnings in the fourteenth century and proceeded until the late seventeenth century. These growing towns were foci of social and political power and were not only agricultural markets but pre-capitalist economic social groupings. Crafts and services were consolidating there. Mercantile capital was concentrating in the towns and trade was linking them. A commercial hierarchy of towns developed that was defined by the market and trade routes. It transcended political boundaries and in the late sixteenth through the early seventeenth century the premier center of this trade net was Bighu in the Pra-Ofin basin, with the Akani of Assin dominant through their control of major gold fields and a mercantile organization that spread throughout the region.(3)
Trade was very important and, although restricted to the elite by law, it stimulated the entire economy. Moreover, despite the law, there was some upward mobility inherent in the system and there were instances of wealth enabling ascension into the nobility. Agricultural production expanded to meet the needs of the larger urban population, population growth and density was up (possibly due in part to the introduction of American cultigens), markets were growing and new ones were being founded, reclamation of land was underway and gold exploration was opening additional sources of that material, expanding the money supply. However, in the mid seventeenth century the extraction of surplus for the ruling class expanded. The cause was an enlarged appetite for imported luxury goods from Europe and for guns to provide security to states which were now experiencing increased conflict due to heightened competition for resources. The added pressure of the increase of the exactions of the nobility engendered hostility on the part of the peasantry and provoked insurrections beginning in the 1660s. Moreover, the ubiquity of the commercial network gave rise to a materialist mentality over a wide area that contributed to the consolidation of slavery and class distinctions and to rising animosity between the town and food producing countryside, the rise of banditry and outlawry and socio-political conflict on transnational scale, of which more later.(4)
The second (and secondary) mode of social production was slaveowning. Ownership of slaves was juridically restricted to the elite class. This mode of production, of course, is not based on land ownership but on owning persons. Slaves were employed as part of the retinue of the nobles, as domestic workers and as a means of production. In this last capacity, generally, they were used to grow crops for the nobles' households and for the mining of gold. The latter was of greater importance due to the monetization of the economy and because, with the advent of the Europeans, an increase in the demand for gold production developed. Where gold had once only had a single export market, it now had two export outlets, the traditional one to the north to the savanna states and the trans-Saharan trade as before, and the new export trade with the Europeans on the south coast. Additionally, the south coast trade became more and more important over time and trade routes and focus altered to accommodate this. Moreover, as demand for the goods imported from the Europeans expanded, augmentation of gold production was necessitated. This was accomplished by the application of additional, mostly slave, labor to the task; that is, the increases in production were extensive not intensive. This concomitantly enhanced demand for labor and the import of slaves grew. The circumstances of expanding gold production and the importation of slaves prevailed from about 1500-1650.(5)
As mentioned above, there were many polities in the Gold Coast.(6) The coastal societies of West Africa were not incorporated into large state systems before 1650 and, for some not until the colonial period. This political fragmentation had much to do with the structure of the pre-contact societies. The initial pattern of these polities was formed through the social structure of the kinship group. They were clan based and authoritarian with the head of a state in the position of primus inter pares, although there were some kingdoms that had developed from these beginnings. The political objective was harmony within society and with neighboring communities. With this arrangement ties were maintained across political boundaries, interstate mobility was expeditious and conflicts were limited. When waged, war held limited aims with the captives obtained in these conflicts absorbed or ransomed; however, there was a limited capacity to absorb outsiders. The basic unit of the society was the family and the surplus produced remained with it. Almost all members were direct subsistence producers and the society tended to egalitarianism. Power was imbued in the family heads and families were usually patriarchal. States developed from this framework had kin-based monarchies and loose organizational frameworks. Rodney calls these societies transitional from some type of communal polity to a feudal one. Ward contends that the Europeans disrupted this system through increased pressure for production of gold and slaves that enlarged interstate competition and instigated war.(7)
As the elite faced additional demands on their resources for the purchase of imports, the surplus wealth extraction from the peasantry increased. As mentioned earlier, the reaction from the peasantry was for some to turn to outlawry, banditry and even to kidnap and abduction for sale into slavery. This illustrates that the previous social idea of community was deteriorating under this introduced stress. Additionally, introduced European ideas of individualism were also working to undermine the cohesive nature of the societies. The conflicts initiated by these circumstances were both local and interstate. The result was a call for more security by the mercantile interests, which were a part of the state apparatus, and a concentration of political power in the military ensued. The changes produced a new type of state. In the mid-seventeenth century some of the Gold Coast polities changed their outlook from the mercantile, commercial and communal perspective to an aggressive, territorially acquisitive and militarily focused one. Denkyira, Fanti and Akwamu are examples of these early militant states.(8)
Further, this militaristic system was destructive of the mercantile order that had predominated to this point. The elite of the militaristic states did see benefit in the trade relations with the Europeans, but were not inclined to approach it in the same manner. They saw the association with the expanding imperial state, based on a great degree of centralization, to be more in their interest. Their wanted to increase the power of the state to extract tribute and to realize the redistribution of the wealth of the various, now subject, states to themselves rather than emphasize cooperation through trade. The wars generated by these states brought additional tribute, more booty and a slough of slaves, all of which redounded to the profit of the military leaders. Moreover, in a kind of vicious cycle, they engendered defensive proclivities in the polities they threatened and increased the militarization of societies throughout the region.(9)
In conjunction with the increased military establishment, changes in tactics due to the import and use of firearms also had important consequences. Until the mid-seventeenth century the armies of the Gold Coast were composed of the retainers of the nobles, militia of the towns, and mercenaries. With the introduction of firearms, composition and tactics in the military changed. The shift was from an elitist army to levée en masse. This shift had serious repercussions to the socio-political structure. The new military organization for war now, instead of fielding an elitist, limited army that was an exemplar of the specialization of urban society, called for a significant contribution by the productive members of society, incorporating the peasants in an expanded force. The change from shock tactics (hand to hand fighting on a limited battlefield) to missile tactics (fire power on a broad front) necessitated this manpower change. This increased the scope of war dramatically and led to previously undreamed of offensive capabilities. Moreover, the military organization had to become more centralized in order to deal with the increase in the expanded numbers of soldiers and cope with the new tactics. These changes in military organization and composition were indicative of the socio-political changes occurring concomitantly.(10)
With the use of more peasants in war, logistics played a larger role and food production took on added importance. In support of this circumstance, among other considerations, a change in the extractive technique exercised by the government was instituted. Instead of requiring the peasants to exchange their produce for money to pay rent and taxes, they reverted to rent payable in kind. However, there is an inherent inefficiency to this method. With the insistence that rent and taxes be paid in money the peasantry must congregate near the source of the availability of cash, which is in towns. However, with the change in rent and tax payments, they no longer are required to sell their produce on the open market, allowing them to disperse more widely. Kea sees this as crucial, contributing to de-urbanization, demonetization, the end of the division of labor between rural and urban areas and, in conjunction with the aforementioned concentration of international trade to the south coast, the disruption of much of the inter-regional trade in West Africa. With this decline of towns, decommercialization increased, as did subsistence production. This is a classic picture of development in reverse. Coupled with the expanded import of luxury manufactured goods, it underscores the break down of internal trade. Moreover, an additional detriment to the rural - urban division of labor came about as artisans abandoned the towns for villages and engaged in subsistence agricultural along with the peasantry, further reducing the differentiation of labor. Even the aristocracy found that the towns were no longer had the attraction of the mercantile period and, unless they instituted an expansion of slave agricultural production in the immediate vicinity of the towns, they found it more convenient to remove to the villages.(11)
In this manner the towns lost their commercial aspect and became solely administrative centers. In fact the entire state became more centralized as it militarized. The semi-autonomous nature of the political positions of the elite office holders deteriorated as the imperialist state matured and developed bureaucratic functions and structures. As the accent shifted from wealth and commercial focus to the military and administrative operations upward social mobility ceased. The village became an important administrative construct associated with the military formations it supported and the taxes for which it was corporately responsible. This had the ironic result of increasing the autonomy of villages at the same time it decreased that of the towns and nobles.(12)
The imperialist states were highly successful. By the mid-eighteenth century much of the interior areas of the Gold Coast had become part of or tributary to the power of Asanti which had supplanted Denkyira. However, in addition to the changes outlined above there were other consequences which transformed the area. With their expanded wars the imperialist states created many more captives. Since the composition of the military had changed and the size of the armies had increased, this removed a substantial number of productive workers from the society and created a labor shortage. In turn, this led to the increased use of slaves in agriculture and fewer in gold production. Gold production decreased and the export of slaves replaced the export of gold. Additionally, gold now needed to be imported. Further, these conditions were also detrimental to internal trade. Thus, trade, which had been diverse and multi-directional, was now focused on the international trade with the Europeans at the coast. This exacerbated the interstate rivalries and led to continuing and extensive warfare, which was advantageous to the Europeans, in that it produced more slaves for export. The northern portions of the interior, which lay toward the savanna and Sahel, became depopulated by slave raids conducted by tributary states in order to fulfill their obligations to the imperial center. Further, those areas defeated in the incessant warfare also lost considerable population to the conquerors. The pattern for the last century of slave trade was thus established; constant war, increasing slave extraction and rural ascendancy. Nor were the internal the only conflicts engendered by the Atlantic trade. Conflict with the European powers on the coast also took place throughout the period. Particularly involved were the Dutch and English and although the Europeans met with defeat on numerous occassions, they eventually prevailed to continue the slave trade.(13)
As a section of the larger picture in West Africa we have attempted to outline the changes which occurred in the socio-political structures of the Gold Coast. They are applicable on a wider scale to the general pattern of the Atlantic Slave Trade's impact in West Africa. Effects were felt in the West African savanna where there were significant polities through the first years after the European encounter. However, this sophistication in the West African Sudan ceased around 1650, with the Moroccan invasion and shifting political structures on the southern coast of West Africa, as slaving came to dominate and trade and development moved to the coast with the changing trade routes. On the Gold Coast, as we have seen, the military became the dominant class and their self interest was tied up in capturing slaves. Iliffe's work found a societal framework in support of the slave trade developed. Indeed, factors of trade encouraged centralized government systems' development.
Fage has argued for the preexistence of a large slave class in coastal West Africa. Others contend that the coastal societies were not slave holding societies. The development of military machines for collection of captives, the existence of communities with relatively weak political and military organizations and, thus, vulnerability to external aggression, and the development of an efficient trade and transportation network for distribution of captives are all factors involved in facilitating a slave society. Unfortunately for Fage, while some of the conditions for extensive pre-encounter slavery existed, and, indeed, slavery did exist in pre-encounter Africa, as we have seen above, in the sort of kin-based political society of the Gold Coast, the class differentiation and number of non-direct producers is insufficient to produce a slave society on the scale to which he alludes. In particular, its inability to absorb outsiders directly contradicts his conclusions. While some of the conditions appropriate to slavery existed, Lovejoy holds that the institution of the Atlantic trade had a serious effect, restructuring the society and economy of pre-encounter West Africa and that most of the state systems that grew up after the initiation of the slave trade were products of the trade as reaction to raids, etc. The major change in social power was a change from kin-based to a military aristocracy. This reflected the situation in which these new societies were formed, i.e., the influence of the Atlantic Slave Trade and European power, and a situation where military prowess determined leadership in society. Military aristocracies came to control state and society and the political-economy became crisis driven.(14)
The process of change brought about by the institution of the slave trade unfolded in different ways. The Europeans initiated efforts to divide and profit, which caused reaction by the indigenous people. The rivalry presented by Daaku in which the European traders on the Africa coast used proxies to garner market share in captives was another source of change. These circumstances led to increased conflict, which the Europeans used to begin the trade of guns for slaves, guns now being necessary for both offense and defense in the slave trading areas. This led to the development of different types of African societies that were affected, and can be delineated, by their relation to the trade.(15)
Moreover, as Meillassoux illustrates, these new state forms were developed through the exigencies created by the trade. Defensive states were actually in opposition to the violence generated by the expansion of the trade and attempted to retain old social forms. The imperialistic states arose from the militarization of the society directly attributable to the trade, as shown above. Raiding, expansion and war were the raison d'être of these states and Meillassoux sees them as a consequence of the slave trade. By 1850 the coastal polities had much more complex state systems, usually based on the military, in such areas as Dahomey, Asanti, and Fanti.(16)
Political fragmentation made possible export demand for captives to generate crisis. When two equally matched large states exist it is unlikely a slave trade will form, but if there is either a large and powerful state with dominating size or a plethora of small states, the trade is facilitated. For example, the emergence of large state systems ended slavery and the slave trade in Europe as these political structures were strong enough to resist incursions. Further, Eltis points out that the judicial process was not employed in Europe for enslavement, as the use of Europeans as slaves became politically unacceptable, as well as too costly. The use of Muslims was also precluded, again because of the strong states which destroyed the cost - benefit relation. However, for Africa, the political situation was conducive to facilitating the slave trade with many contending states, instability, outside interference and ongoing crisis.
In addition, the longevity of the internal African slave trade was a result of the external slave trade. As the external slave trade ended, within West Africa the political structures remained and continued to produce captives. This only heightened the ongoing conflicts with the British, who had become the dominant European force on the Gold Coast in the mid-eighteenth century and who had been instrumental in the abolition of the external slave trade in the nineteenth. The Asanti and the British engaged in a continuing war which ultimately led to British conquest, subjugation and colonial government by the end of the nineteenth century. The political and economic situation that existed, with states that were based on a military aristocracy which had survived beyond their time, allowed the colonizing powers to step in and impose their political rule. Thus, even the subsequent colonization of Africa can be seen as a consequence of the slave trade.(17)
We have seen that the Atlantic slave trade led to political structures that facilitated the slave trade, but not only were formal political institutions of state part of the elements involved in the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. As the institutional theory propounded by North suggests, laws and formal institutions come first, then informal institutions of approbation or sanction develop with moral and social sanctions dependent on culture arising behind the law. The social institutions that the slave trade developed, such as military aristocracy and merchant princes, involved the rewriting of social conventions to support those dominant groups in society that held a monopoly on power and benefited from the slave trade. Thus, "patterns of inheritance, marriage and family tradition" changed to reflect the new political situation. In these circumstances a man's wealth might well be judged on the number of slaves he owned. Hilton tells of changes in the brideprice in Kongo to include wealth in slaves.(18) This is one reason why the trade continued internally even after the demise of the external slave trade. The entrenched elite's best interest was a continuation of the status quo and they bent every effort to ensure that their interests would be served.(19)
We have seen that the Atlantic slave trade, through a variety of mechanisms, the encouragement of war and the establishment of political systems sympathetic to the aims of the slave trade, etc., was of great detriment to West Africa and helped to maintain a situation in which subsistence agriculture was the most attractive course for economic sufficiency among the people. The slave trade produced political upheaval and state institutions favorable to the maintenance and extension of the slave trade. This state of affairs precluded the establishment of a state which supported the entrepreneurial class necessary for capitalist development. Moreover, the growth of social groups that benefited from the trade was expedited and their interests became the dominant ones in society. The ascendancy of these groups of military aristocracy, in conjunction with European influence, helped maintain a continuous socio-political conflict and the 'production' of slaves for export through the demand of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Thus the trade led to upheaval and mutation of indigenous social and political structures in the Gold Coast whose repercussions can be felt to this day.