20th century – 20th century
Africa
A broad phase of African economic transformation marked by the coexistence of subsistence and commercial agriculture, rapid mining expansion, emerging petroleum exports, and uneven industrialization. Between 1960 and 1975, mining’s contribution to developing Africa’s GDP rose sharply before declining in 1975, while manufacturing expanded but remained concentrated in a small group of countries and dependent on imported capital, technology, and skills. Agricultural production grew more slowly, and per-capita food conditions deteriorated.
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The Story
Across much of sub-Saharan Africa, subsistence farming continued alongside commercial or modern agriculture. Traditional agriculture supported rural communities and organized production primarily around household and local needs, with sales depending on the availability of marketable surpluses. Commercial farming, by contrast, operated within the money economy and pursued different methods and objectives. Traditional agriculture remained predominant in West, Central, and East Africa, while farming in North Africa had become mainly commercial.
The agricultural sector performed poorly in relation to broader economic growth. Between 1948 and 1966, the volume of all agricultural products increased, but food and livestock products grew more slowly than non-food products. Per-capita production stagnated overall and deteriorated particularly for food, while population growth averaged 2.2 percent annually. Conditions worsened between 1966 and 1975, especially during unfavorable climatic conditions in the Sudano-Sahelian zone from 1971–72 to 1974.
Agricultural difficulties extended beyond climate. Weak administrative capacity, inadequate marketing, credit, transport, and extension services, as well as producer-pricing policies, constrained production. Rural–urban migration created shortages of farm labor without automatically producing a technological revolution. Mechanization remained marginal, supervised agricultural credit was still unrealized, and poor harvesting and storage facilities caused Africa to lose between one-quarter and two-fifths of its food production annually.
Mining achieved considerable progress during the period under review, sustaining and improving the expansion that had begun during the pre-independence decade of the 1950s. Mining and quarrying increased their contribution to developing Africa’s GDP from 4.38 percent in 1960 to 11.33 percent in 1970, before falling to 7.25 percent in 1975 as a worldwide depression began. Africa’s share of global crude petroleum output rose from one percent in 1960 to 11 percent in 1975.
The growth of mining was highly uneven between countries and sub-regions. Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria entered the ranks of major oil exporters, while Egypt, Tunisia, Congo, and Angola also produced petroleum. Algeria and Nigeria were the principal natural-gas producers. Morocco and Rhodesia were major coal producers apart from South Africa; iron ore came mainly from Algeria, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, and Swaziland, while Zaire and Zambia led copper production.
Other mineral specializations were similarly concentrated. Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zaire were major producers of tin concentrate; Ghana, Guinea, and Sierra Leone produced bauxite; Morocco, Tunisia, and Zambia produced lead ore; Morocco, Zaire, and Zambia produced zinc ore; and Morocco and Tunisia supplied phosphate rock. Zaire was the largest diamond producer in developing Africa, followed by Ghana and Sierra Leone, while Ghana and Zaire were the principal gold producers. Mining growth later slowed because of limited capital and know-how, economic nationalism, reserve depletion, conservation policies, and rising production costs.
Factory production developed relatively late, with origins in the 1920s and 1930s. Colonial powers often discouraged industrialization in order to prevent competition with metropolitan industries, although wartime supply interruptions, shipping shortages, and strategic considerations encouraged manufacturing and the processing of bulky raw materials in the colonies. Governments of emerging African nations pursued industrialization more vigorously during the 1950s and the first post-independence decade.
Manufacturing expanded substantially between 1960 and 1975, but remained below the level of other world regions. Industrial growth averaged 6.4 percent during the period, and industry contributed almost 12 percent of total GDP by 1975. Yet Africa’s share of world manufacturing output rose only from 0.5 percent in 1960 to 0.6 percent in 1975. Egypt, Nigeria, and Algeria together accounted for 41.7 percent of developing Africa’s industrial output in 1975, while ten countries together accounted for three-quarters.
African manufacturing was dominated by light industry, although heavy industry increased its share after 1960. Food, beverages, tobacco, textiles, and clothing remained central, while chemical, petrochemical, and basic-metal industries gained ground. Industrialization frequently depended on foreign capital, technology, and skills, with weak connections to agriculture and mining; many projects therefore appeared as isolated enclaves of modernity. Industrial development also proceeded mainly at the national level, limiting regional projects and preventing firms from benefiting fully from larger regional markets.
20th century – 20th century
Africa
A broad phase of African economic transformation marked by the coexistence of subsistence and commercial agriculture, rapid mining expansion, emerging petroleum exports, and uneven industrialization. Between 1960 and 1975, mining’s contribution to developing Africa’s GDP rose sharply before declining in 1975, while manufacturing expanded but remained concentrated in a small group of countries and dependent on imported capital, technology, and skills. Agricultural production grew more slowly, and per-capita food conditions deteriorated.
Continue exploring
The Story
Across much of sub-Saharan Africa, subsistence farming continued alongside commercial or modern agriculture. Traditional agriculture supported rural communities and organized production primarily around household and local needs, with sales depending on the availability of marketable surpluses. Commercial farming, by contrast, operated within the money economy and pursued different methods and objectives. Traditional agriculture remained predominant in West, Central, and East Africa, while farming in North Africa had become mainly commercial.
The agricultural sector performed poorly in relation to broader economic growth. Between 1948 and 1966, the volume of all agricultural products increased, but food and livestock products grew more slowly than non-food products. Per-capita production stagnated overall and deteriorated particularly for food, while population growth averaged 2.2 percent annually. Conditions worsened between 1966 and 1975, especially during unfavorable climatic conditions in the Sudano-Sahelian zone from 1971–72 to 1974.
Agricultural difficulties extended beyond climate. Weak administrative capacity, inadequate marketing, credit, transport, and extension services, as well as producer-pricing policies, constrained production. Rural–urban migration created shortages of farm labor without automatically producing a technological revolution. Mechanization remained marginal, supervised agricultural credit was still unrealized, and poor harvesting and storage facilities caused Africa to lose between one-quarter and two-fifths of its food production annually.
Mining achieved considerable progress during the period under review, sustaining and improving the expansion that had begun during the pre-independence decade of the 1950s. Mining and quarrying increased their contribution to developing Africa’s GDP from 4.38 percent in 1960 to 11.33 percent in 1970, before falling to 7.25 percent in 1975 as a worldwide depression began. Africa’s share of global crude petroleum output rose from one percent in 1960 to 11 percent in 1975.
The growth of mining was highly uneven between countries and sub-regions. Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria entered the ranks of major oil exporters, while Egypt, Tunisia, Congo, and Angola also produced petroleum. Algeria and Nigeria were the principal natural-gas producers. Morocco and Rhodesia were major coal producers apart from South Africa; iron ore came mainly from Algeria, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, and Swaziland, while Zaire and Zambia led copper production.
Other mineral specializations were similarly concentrated. Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zaire were major producers of tin concentrate; Ghana, Guinea, and Sierra Leone produced bauxite; Morocco, Tunisia, and Zambia produced lead ore; Morocco, Zaire, and Zambia produced zinc ore; and Morocco and Tunisia supplied phosphate rock. Zaire was the largest diamond producer in developing Africa, followed by Ghana and Sierra Leone, while Ghana and Zaire were the principal gold producers. Mining growth later slowed because of limited capital and know-how, economic nationalism, reserve depletion, conservation policies, and rising production costs.
Factory production developed relatively late, with origins in the 1920s and 1930s. Colonial powers often discouraged industrialization in order to prevent competition with metropolitan industries, although wartime supply interruptions, shipping shortages, and strategic considerations encouraged manufacturing and the processing of bulky raw materials in the colonies. Governments of emerging African nations pursued industrialization more vigorously during the 1950s and the first post-independence decade.
Manufacturing expanded substantially between 1960 and 1975, but remained below the level of other world regions. Industrial growth averaged 6.4 percent during the period, and industry contributed almost 12 percent of total GDP by 1975. Yet Africa’s share of world manufacturing output rose only from 0.5 percent in 1960 to 0.6 percent in 1975. Egypt, Nigeria, and Algeria together accounted for 41.7 percent of developing Africa’s industrial output in 1975, while ten countries together accounted for three-quarters.
African manufacturing was dominated by light industry, although heavy industry increased its share after 1960. Food, beverages, tobacco, textiles, and clothing remained central, while chemical, petrochemical, and basic-metal industries gained ground. Industrialization frequently depended on foreign capital, technology, and skills, with weak connections to agriculture and mining; many projects therefore appeared as isolated enclaves of modernity. Industrial development also proceeded mainly at the national level, limiting regional projects and preventing firms from benefiting fully from larger regional markets.