Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Agriculture in Liberia during the Nineteenth Century: Americo-Liberians' Contribution
Author:Saha, Santosh C.ISNI
Year:1988
Periodical:Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:22
Issue:2
Pages:224-239
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:African Americans
agricultural history
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/485903
Abstract:The most pressing problem faced by Liberia during the 19th century was a stagnant economy. Critics have erroneously argued that Liberia did not succeed in extricating itself from economic difficulties because the settlers neglected agriculture and remained 'addicted to trade'. This paper shows that the Americo-Liberians, partly motivated by self-reliance and greatly fired by the Protestant work ethic of the materialist humanitarians in the US, transferred some of the farming skills of the New World, and thus helped the cause of agriculture in Liberia. The paper argues that the Americo-Liberians were hard working and made deliberate attempts to improve the economy through the development of agriculture. But the instability of world prices and market conditions, rather than physical difficulties or human failings, have been the chief cause of that failure of peasant agriculture which foreign observers so regularly regretted. Bibliogr., ref., sum. in French.
Views
Cover