article
‘No elders present’: commoners and private ownership in Asante, 1807-96
Journal of African history • 37 (1) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 1-30
By: Austin, Gareth.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Austin reexamines the reasons for the overthrow of the ASANTEHENE Mensa Bonsu in 1883 and the ensuing civil war (1884-8.) Ivor Wilks attributed the rebellion to an emergent class of wealthy private traders, who were frustrated by state commercial monopolies and regulations. However, Austin disputes the evidence of a strong state commercial sector that directly competed with a growing private sector. Instead he claims that the trouble stemmed from the widespread opposition of small producers and traders, who reacted to extortionate high taxes and fines. According to Austin, small producers and traders participating in export and domestic markets became a major component of the Asante post-Atlantic slave trade economy and a force to be reckoned with.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Production and supply
- Internal trade
- External trade
- Mercantile business
- Slavery
- Chief executive
- Taxation and public income
- Revolution
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Akan
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ;1999
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- Not Specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1807-1896
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ashanti; Ghana
- NotesAdditional notes
- By Gareth Austin
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 63005723
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Akan (African people)