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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Property and Theft in Kano at the Dawn of the Groundnut Boom, 1912-1914 |
Author: | Christelow, Allan |
Year: | 1987 |
Periodical: | International Journal of African Historical Studies |
Volume: | 20 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 225-243 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Northern Nigeria Nigeria |
Subjects: | Kano polity theft Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/219841 |
Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between political and economic structures in Kano emirate, northern Nigeria, in the years just before World War I. It opens up a new domain of data - the records of the Emir's judicial council - and, in so doing, it offers some new insights into the bearing which the exercise of political authority had upon property relations in Kano during this crucial period, and into how changing commercial relations in their turn affected the conduct of political authorities. The strategy taken is to investigate a variety of case types which can be classified under the rubric of theft, or the illegal seizure of property. The records show that Emir Abbas and his council had a rather mixed attitude on questions of what measures political authorities should take to provide security for commerce. Abbas actively worked to restrict the role of government outside Kano city. This is not to say that he opposed urban economic penetration of the countryside, but rather that he preferred it to be organized through networks capable of arranging their own security. Notes, ref. |