Two Worlds of Cotton: Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan, 1800-1946 [Hardcover]

Richard Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996

A major new approach to the study of the social and economic history of colonial French West Africa, this book traces French efforts to establish a cotton export economy in the French Soudan from the early nineteenth century through the end of World War II.

Cotton cultivation and handicraft cotton textile production had long been an important part of the indigenous regional economies of West Africa. During the nineteenth century, the French metropolitan cotton textile industry developed and expanded, and securing new sources for raw cotton became a central concern for French industrialists and the emerging technocratic leadership of the French state. Controlling the French West Africa cotton harvest thus became of paramount importance to the French colonial endeavor.

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A major new approach to the study of the social and economic history of colonial French West Africa, this book traces French efforts to establish a cotton export economy in the French Soudan from the early nineteenth century through the end of World War II.
Cotton cultivation and handicraft cotton textile production had long been an important part of the indigenous regional economies of West Africa. During the nineteenth century, the French metropolitan cotton textile industry developed and expanded, and securing new sources for raw cotton became a central concern for French industrialists and the emerging technocratic leadership of the French state. Controlling the French West Africa cotton harvest thus became of paramount importance to the French colonial endeavor.

About the Author

Richard L. Roberts is Professor of History at Stanford University. He is the author of Warriors, Merchants, and Slaves: The State and the Economy in the Middle Niger Valley, 1700-1914 (Stanford, 1987).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804726523
• ISBN-13: 978-0804726528
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > History > Africa > Mali

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4.0 out of 5 stars informative but academic, August 5, 2004

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Djahri (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Worlds of Cotton: Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan, 1800-1946 (Hardcover)

This book is a good resource for students of colonial economics or agriculture. The author thoroughly searched through old French documents, probably hand written, to chronicle the economic history of why cotton never caught on in what used to be the French Soudan. Opposing the stereotypical image of a subjugated colonial peasantry, Roberts reminds us that colonial West Africans created their own identity and exerted their own economic power. Unfortunately, if you are looking for the African point of view, look someplace else. The author couldn't access much from one of his "worlds", the indigenous Mande cotton farmers.