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Unit Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies

Module Nine: African Economies

Teacher's Edition

Activity Seven
Africa's Integration into the Global Economy: Colonialism Case Study: Soudan/Mali

The Story of "Cotton."

Map of Mali

Mali is very different from Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Look at the map of Africa. You will notice that Mali is situated in the Sahel region of West Africa. The Sahel is the region that borders the Sahara desert to the north and the savannah regions of West Africa to the south. Nearly 70 per cent of Mali is arid or semi arid, and thus unsuitable for cultivation of crops. Consequently, the majority of the population of Mali lives in the southern part of the country in regions adjacent to the Niger River that flows through Mali from west to east (see country map).

Mali is named after the historical kingdom of Mali that you studied in Module Seven A: African History. In fact, contemporary Mali was once part of three great African kingdoms, Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. You will remember that these kingdoms became strong and powerful in part because their governments were able to control the extensive trade that took place between peoples and kingdoms in North Africa and peoples and kingdoms in the savannah and forest regions of West Africa. Mali was a center of trade, education, and Islam in West Africa.

Central mosque of Jenne.   Street scene in Timbuktu.  
Mali
Central Mosque of Jenne		   Mali
Street Scene in Timbuktu		  
@Africa Focus, University of Wisconsin-Madison   @Africa Focus, University of Wisconsin-Madison  

Many factors went into the decline of these West African kingdoms. However, some economic historians think that the rise of the Atlantic trade with Europe and the Americas diverted trade from the Saharan trade routes, thus lessening revenues to the strength of the Sahel kingdoms.

European traders and missionaries visited the area of Mali as early as the beginning of the 19th century, but European nations showed little interest in this area prior to the Scramble for Africa. Of all the European powers, France showed the most interest in the Sahelian areas of West Africa, and by the early years of the 20th century, France had colonized large regions of West Africa (Link to the Map Colonialism 1914). Mali, or the Soudan as the French called it, was part of the large colonial unit called French West Africa that stretched from Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Chad in the east, from the borders of Algeria and Libya in the north to present day Cote D'Ivoire and Benin in the south.

As was the case in Northern Rhodesia, economics played an important role in the Soudan during the colonial period. France did not want any of its colonies to be an economic drain on its resources. Consequently, the French wanted the Soudan to provide revenues necessary to support the colonial endeavor. Moreover, France, as with the other colonial powers, was interested in using its colonies to support the economic interests of French businesses.

Mali had no substantial mineral resources so the colonial regime turned to agriculture to provide resources and revenues to support the colonial agenda. By the 1920s, the French had decided to promote the large scale cultivation of cotton to form the basis of the colonial economy of the Soudan. Cotton was grown in this area before the beginning of colonialism, supporting a vibrant small-scale textile industry that included spinning cotton and weaving the cotton threads into beautiful cloth.

Weaver preparing cotton thread for weaving. Weavers at looms in Jenne. Amadu Karta, weaver, at work in Bamako.
Mali
Weaver Preparing Cotton Thread for Weaving		 Mali
Weavers at Looms in Jenne		 Mali
Amadu Karta, Weaver, at Work in Bamako
@Africa Focus, University of Wisconsin-Madison @Africa Focus, University of Wisconsin-Madison @Africa Focus, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Your Turn:
Decision Making: What is the Best way to Produce Cotton?

In promoting cotton production, the French colonial officials were not interested in supporting the local textile industry. Rather, they wanted to use cotton exports to raise revenues to pay for the expenses of colonialism and to provide cotton for the French textile industry, which at this time, was dependent on imports from the United States.

Once the colonial officials had been made this choice, they had to devise a strategy for expanding cotton production. They faced a basic choice, should they support the development of large plantation-type cotton farms, similar to the large farms that produced cotton in the southern United States, or should they encourage the small-scale Malian farmers to expand their cotton production?

Below are a number of factors that French colonial officials may have taken into consideration as they made their decision on which cotton production strategy to follow.

Carefully study the following data.

DECISION MAKING:

  1. Economic objectives and realities of the colonial state:
    • Raise revenues locally (within colony) through production and export of natural resources.
    • Support business interests in home country (France)
    • Colonial state did not have money to subsidize cotton production, nor to guarantee a minimum price for cotton produced.
  2. The Soudan (Mali)
  3. Cotton Production
    Facts about cotton:
    • Depletes the soil
    • Labor intensive: planting, weeding, fertilizing, picking, ginning.
    • Volatile world market -prices are not stable.
  4. Realities of small-scale subsistence farming in Mali
    • Food production first priority
    • Cotton more labor intensive than food production
    • Land holdings per family were small
    • Malian farmers were responsive to incentives if judged safe and in their best interest.

Using this data and what you already know about colonialism in Africa, work with a partner to complete the following exercise. After your have shared your answers with your teacher, place your final answers in your Exploring Africa! Web Journal.

  1. List all the reasons you can think of that would support the development of large plantation-like cotton farms in Mali.
  2. Now list all the reasons you can think of that would make this a poor decision.
  3. List all the reasons you can think of that would support the strategy to emphasize small farm production of cotton.
  4. Now list all the reasons you can think of that would make this a bad decision.
  5. Look over these lists. Based on your evaluation what decision do you think the French colonial government made? Why do you think that they made this decision?
  6. Economic decisions lead to consequences some of which may be intended and others unintended. What do you think some of the consequences, good and bad, of this decision, may have been?

Answer Key:

  1. There are a number of potential advantages to large-scale cotton production that students might mention: facilitation of direct control over all aspects of production and export of cotton; facilitate large-scale production of cotton; facilitate uniform production procedures.
  2. Disadvantages: need for investment in large farms to develop infrastructure from either French businesses or the colonial government; would have to alienate (force purchase) large areas of fertile land from existing farms (likely to be strongly resisted by Malian farmers); need for large numbers of workers to provide labor for farms (again, likely to be resisted by Malians); large farms would need expensive European supervisory personnel.
  3. Advantages: work with farmers, many of whom already grew cotton; would not necessitate large-scale investment in infrastructure; would not necessitate the purchase or alienation of land; would make use of existing family labor system on farms.
  4. Disadvantages: substitution of cotton for needed food crops (potential food shortages, malnutrition); rapid depletion of soil fertility impacted future production of food and other cash crops; no guarantee price for crop, often small or no profits from cotton; farmer resistance to government pressure to change their production practices.
  5. The French decision was to encourage small-scale production of cotton. This decision was made primarily on financial considerations. Small-scale cotton production would be less expensive requiring a much smaller state and private investment than plantation type production of cotton.
  6. Students may find this question too difficult. Teachers should encourage students to think of the goals that the colonial regime had in the Soudan for growing cotton and what the likely outcome of the small-scale production policy may have been. For example, if Malian farmers were resistant to the policies that forced them to grow cotton, were they likely to cooperate in a manner which resulted in efficient and productive farming practices? If there was resistance, would cotton production goals be met? If cotton replaced food production, what were the likely results in terms of food availability in the Soudan be?

What the French Did

Go to Activity Eight

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