HIST 225 - West African Economy and Society, 18th-20th Centuries: Commerce, Colonialism and Christianity

The course explores the major economic and social transformations in West Africa from the 18th to the 20th century. In so doing, it will locate West Africa within the wider Atlantic World and examine the interplay of internal and external forces that shaped the region’s history from the immediate pre-colonial period to the post -colonial era. The course will cover, among other topics, the slave trade and slavery, West African “slave states,” the founding of Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Abolitionist movement, Islamic revolutions and states, the spread of Christianity, West African Colonial intermediaries, the colonial economy, and women and economic development in post-colonial Africa.

Credits: 4
Terms Offered: As Needed
Attributes: Global Learning International (GLI)