The tropical forest zones
Agriculture and mining were the two most important productive activities in the tropical forest
zones during our period. In 1000 AD, the beginning of our period, West Africa was the main
supplier of gold to Western Europe. This, however, was an exceptional case. The main economic
activity in the forest region was agriculture.
The forest was both a blessing and a curse. Forest land, newly cleared with iron axes and digging
sticks, was very fertile. Here people grew oil-palms, yams and plantains (a type of banana). These
were labour saving crops that yielded well and were thus suitable for the labour-scarce economies
of the forest zones. But the forest limited people’s access to grazing land.. It meant also that plough
agriculture could not develop, with no oxen to draw the plough. The forest also limited long
distance trade, as goods had to be transported by human porters in the absence of pack animals.
The forest harboured mosquitoes and tsetse flies, especially along the rivers and streams. Map 2
shows the prevalence of the tsetse fly in Africa. It was found in west, central and parts of eastern
Arica. And the presence of tsetse flies of course meant that people were infected with sleeping
sickness, thus aggravating the scarcity of labour. Malaria was probably the biggest killer, but
sleeping sickness was more prevalent. Although the tsetse fly carried trypanosomiasis that was
fatal for humans, it was its effect on livestock that more profoundly impacted the pre-colonial
economies. Tsetse flies also carried the animal trypanosomiasis parasite (also known as nagana)
that is fatal to cattle and horses. The presence of tsetse flies prevented the development of pastoral
or agro-pastoral systems in the forest zones. With no cattle, ploughs – one of the most important
labour saving technologies in the pre-industrial age – could be introduced. It also impeded longdistance trade human porters had to be used to carry goods. This is one of the reasons why transSahara trade for the West African economies as it was the only tsetse free transport route and
camels could be used as carriers.
Despite these problems, people settled in these areas, probably drawn there largely by the laboursaving fertility of the soil. Newly cleared forest land was very fertile and suitable for labour-saving
crops that enabled many farmers in the forest regions to produce a surplus for the market. Clearance
of forest land, however, required large initial investments to make it usable for planting. The
30
occupation of the forest areas was a heavy task requiring many strong labourers. It has been
estimated that to clear enough forest land to support one family in East Africa required up to 150
man-days of labour. The forest clearers were generally young men who worked in groups and then
shared the land among themselves. Labour shortages can lead to social conflict.
The chronic labour shortages made competition over labour common, so institutions that regulated
access to labour were of crucial importance. The family was the main source of labour for the
farmers and social status was closely associated with the number of children a household was
blessed with. Men competed intensely for women and tensions arose because of inequality in
access to them. All societies in the forest zones observed the custom of bridewealth, by which the
husband’s family paid compensation to the bride’s family for the loss of her fertility and labour.
Forced marriages, abduction of women, and polygamy (having more than one wife) were all fairly
common.
The ideal social organisation in the forest region was a large complex household headed by a ‘Big
Man’ surrounded by his wives, married and unmarried sons, younger brothers, poor relations, other
dependents, and numerous children. Labour was shared out in various ways between men and
women, depending on the job. Women’s share of agricultural labour varied. Heavy clearing work
was usually a job for men, planting and weeding were for women, and peak activities like
harvesting were for both. The children were used as soon as possible for domestic and farm labour.
The savannah
Land in the savannah was generally less fertile than land in the forest zones. But the environment
was less hostile, so there was a better chance for agricultural, agropastoral and pastoral economies
to develop, at least in southern Africa.
Farmers in the savannah mainly grew grain such as millet and sorghum. Millet was most common
in the dryer savannah regions of West Africa and sorghum was most common in southern Africa.
In the pre-colonial savannah regions the population was very unevenly distributed. Islands of
intensive agriculture were isolated amidst huge areas of pasture and sparsely populated land. Not
surprisingly, most of the densely populated areas were on lake shores, in river valleys or along the
coast.
The densest population concentration was in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. In this region
farming was less labour-intensive than in the forest zones. Along the shores of the lakes it was not
necessary to clear the land regularly to open up new areas for cultivation. Here people grew yams,
sorghum and bananas. Bananas were important for the survival of the agricultural societies in this
region. A banana grove could last for 50 years and produce food to support several people. In some
areas farmers deliberately established groves by fertilising the soil with grass and manure carried
there from pasture areas.
Like the people in the forest zones, the savannah people were constantly threatened by endemic
diseases such as malaria. In the late 19
century, colonial doctors estimated that up to 20 percent
of all young children living near the shores of Lake Nyasa (now known as Lake Malawi) died from
malaria. Leprosy was common, especially in the humid areas, and smallpox posed a threat all over
the savannah. Women in these agropastoral societies of the savannah played a bigger part in farm
labour than the women in the forest zones. Men were mainly responsible for clearing land and
taking care of the cattle, while women were in charge of all remaining tasks.
Because of this division of labour, men competed intensely for women, and bridewealth was, just
as in the forest region, the common strategy to regulate the competition. Polygamous households
were fairly common. The wealthier you were as a man the more wives were you able to marry.
Occasionally, a poor man who lacked the means to pay bridewealth could still marry by working
for his father-in-law, but he could not take his wife to his own village or gain control over her
children. And again just as in the forest region, young men quite often resorted to capturing women
through minor raids on neighbouring societies. But although women were valuable, and female
labour was crucial to the survival of these societies, their status was low. Women often lacked
access to land and in the unlikely case of a divorce they lost their rights to the children.