How Africans Shaped British Colonial Institutions : Evidence from Local Taxation
(2020) In Journal of Economic History 80(4). p.1189-1223- Abstract
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.
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- author
- Bolt, Jutta LU and Gardner, Leigh
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Economic History
- volume
- 80
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 1189 - 1223
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85095990749
- ISSN
- 0022-0507
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0022050720000455
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 36cbdb9b-6520-4f4f-850f-72ff064e3f38
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-27 08:17:03
- date last changed
- 2022-04-19 02:24:39
@article{36cbdb9b-6520-4f4f-850f-72ff064e3f38, abstract = {{<p>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. </p>}}, author = {{Bolt, Jutta and Gardner, Leigh}}, issn = {{0022-0507}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{4}}, pages = {{1189--1223}}, publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}}, series = {{Journal of Economic History}}, title = {{How Africans Shaped British Colonial Institutions : Evidence from Local Taxation}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050720000455}}, doi = {{10.1017/S0022050720000455}}, volume = {{80}}, year = {{2020}}, }