The Era Of Legitimate Commerce Summary

In the section, “The Era of Legitimate Commerce, 1800-1870” of Bill Freund’s book, “The Making of Contemporary Africa, he explores the concept of “Legitimate Commerce” and the resulting impact this had on Africa after the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Freund utilizes “Legitimate Commerce” to frame both European and African developments relating to economic and social changes as well as the development of new states in Africa. These changes are outlined in this chapter as they relate to the strengthening interrelationships between European and African markets.
“Legitimate Commerce” is described as a concept intended to benefit all European parties supporting the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade (Freund 53). “Legitimate Commerce” was a slogan supported by a good deal of Europeans who had affairs in African exploration, humanitarian efforts, and trade (Freund 53). This manner of commerce could from a European perspective be viewed as a kind of ‘ethical’ commerce that was simultaneously viewed as benefiting European markets. This shift was largely caused by the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the shift of focus from plantations to factories, and the increase in European manufactured goods that could expand into African markets.
The societies involved in “Legitimate Commerce” were European powers formerly involved in the Atlantic slave trade and emerging markets in Africa.
Europeans looked toward the markets in Africa as being untapped, and sought to expand their exports of manufactured goods into Africa while importing raw materials from the continent. Britain increased trade with West Africa and the development of the slave trade from within the continent can be directly tied to the increased demand for the gathering of raw materials from Africa (Freund 54). This slave trade created a new manner of trader who worked as an intermediary between European traders and African slaveholders, such as could be found in Sierra
Leone.
In East and South Africa, “Legitimate Commerce” led to the formation and shift of various states on the continent. In East Africa a rapid growth of commerce in the area fueled a growth of the slave trade and the demand for European firearms, leading to the creation of states by powerful African traders (Freund 59). In South Africa, European efforts to control the area led to the growth of colonial power in the territory, and an increase of interest in taxation of black peasantry led to the development of an interracial, though class-based society.
The abolition of the slave trade in favor of “Legitimate Commerce” did not lead to the abolition of the exploitation of Africans, but rather, it dispersed exploitation internally throughout Africa. This commerce shifted interest for European powers from managing the exportation of slaves to increasing control of African markets, furthering European development on the continent. “Legitimate Commerce” strengthened the link between European and African interests, tying these markets to one another and causing dramatic shifts within Africa.