Polarisation and Dependence in the Gold Coast Cocoa Trade, 1890-1938

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Periodical article

Title:	Polarisation and Dependence in the Gold Coast Cocoa Trade, 1890-1938
Author:	Southall, Roger J.
Year:	1975
Periodical:	Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
Volume:	16
Issue:	1
Period:	June
Pages:	93-115
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Ghana France
Subjects:	market cocoa colonialism History and Exploration Economics and Trade Politics and Government
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41406583
Abstract:	Analysis of the consequences of economic dependence on external markets and foreign capital for Gold Coast political life, in this case, the relationship between fluctuations in the world 'cocoa protest'. The heavy dependence of the local economy on an inherently unstable world cocoa price was directly responsible for polarising relations between expatriate cocoa-buying firms and African producders during the period 1890-1938, and there was a direct link between the formation of oligopolistic European buying combines and the development of increasingly vigorous producer protest movements. The climax of the process of polarisation, the cocoa hold-up of 1937/38, underminded the political structure of colonialism. Sections: the creation of dependence - the consolidation of expatriate capital - the African response to expatriate domination - conclusion. Notes, table.