An Economic History of Africa from the Earliest Times to Partition by Wickins, Peter

(Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1980). 8vo; original black boards; laminated dustwrapper; pp. (viii) + 323, incl. index; maps. Very good condition. Dustwrapper somewhat edgeworn and torn, with archival tape repairs to reverse; some spotting to top edge. "This book is a survey of the economic history of the continent of Africa, north and south of the Sahara, from the Stone Age until the incorporation of most of the continent into European Empires of the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries. It takes a partly regional, partly chronological approach and provides a dispassionate and balanced assessment of the economic achievements of pre-colonial Africa. The researches of archaeologists, prehistorians, ancient and modern historians, social and economic anthropologists, geographers, specialists in agriculture and land tenure, economists and economic historians, as well as the accounts of travellers, both European and Asian, have formed the basis of Dr Wickins's work. After a description of the various types of economic activity in the past, Dr Wickins analyses the socio-economic systems involved at various times before partition, and concludes with a discussion of the beginnings of export crop production and European political penetration. No previous book on economic history has covered this area and time span." .