From 20th century
Africa, especially West Africa
By 1940, colonial migration patterns in Africa were established and increasingly shaped by regional incorporation into the world economy. Three broad movements predominated: seasonal labour toward cash-crop and export agriculture, migration toward mines and industry, and movement toward heterogeneous urban employment. In West Africa, large seasonal flows from poorer interior savannas supplied cash-crop areas, while agricultural colonization also moved toward zones of land abundance.
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The Story
By 1940, the migration patterns associated with colonial rule were well established. Although they retained some continuities with precolonial movements and with Indigenous processes such as nomad sedentarization, they were dominated by the ways in which different African regions had been connected to the world economy. Migration therefore followed the geography of export production, industrial employment, and urban labour markets.
Three broad patterns can be distinguished. People moved toward areas of cash-crop or export-oriented agriculture, toward employment in mines or industry, and toward cities offering general and heterogeneous employment. These movements did not form a single corridor: they linked rural interiors with agricultural zones, mining regions, industrial centres, and urban economies.
In West Africa, seasonal unskilled agricultural labour moved in vast flows from poorer rural areas of the interior savanna toward regions where African farmers cultivated cash crops. Other movements involved agricultural colonization from areas of land shortage into zones of land abundance, including the Cross River area, the Nigerian Middle Belt, and northern Ivory Coast. Except for Nigeria, West African movements tended to be international in scope, creating a subcontinental labour market.
From 20th century
Africa, especially West Africa
By 1940, colonial migration patterns in Africa were established and increasingly shaped by regional incorporation into the world economy. Three broad movements predominated: seasonal labour toward cash-crop and export agriculture, migration toward mines and industry, and movement toward heterogeneous urban employment. In West Africa, large seasonal flows from poorer interior savannas supplied cash-crop areas, while agricultural colonization also moved toward zones of land abundance.
Continue exploring
The Story
By 1940, the migration patterns associated with colonial rule were well established. Although they retained some continuities with precolonial movements and with Indigenous processes such as nomad sedentarization, they were dominated by the ways in which different African regions had been connected to the world economy. Migration therefore followed the geography of export production, industrial employment, and urban labour markets.
Three broad patterns can be distinguished. People moved toward areas of cash-crop or export-oriented agriculture, toward employment in mines or industry, and toward cities offering general and heterogeneous employment. These movements did not form a single corridor: they linked rural interiors with agricultural zones, mining regions, industrial centres, and urban economies.
In West Africa, seasonal unskilled agricultural labour moved in vast flows from poorer rural areas of the interior savanna toward regions where African farmers cultivated cash crops. Other movements involved agricultural colonization from areas of land shortage into zones of land abundance, including the Cross River area, the Nigerian Middle Belt, and northern Ivory Coast. Except for Nigeria, West African movements tended to be international in scope, creating a subcontinental labour market.