The Agricultural and Forest Products of British West Africa

This 1911 handbook captures a pivotal moment in West African economic history. Written as Britain sought to maximize its colonial investments before the Great War, it documents the agricultural and forest resources that would shape the region's economy for decades. Dudgeon surveys crops with commercial promise, cotton, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, groundnuts, examining not just their cultivation but the infrastructure and labor systems required to make them profitable. His tone is pragmatic and optimistic, reflecting an era when colonial administrators genuinely believed they were bringing development to the tropics. The book also reveals the tensions inherent in this vision. Dudgeon discusses land tenure systems, traditional farming practices, and the practical challenges of transforming subsistence agriculture into export-oriented production. The preface acknowledges the disruptions caused by the Great European War while expressing cautious optimism about future growth, particularly in Nigerian cotton, which he declares 'now assured' of success. For historians of empire, African economic development, and global trade, this volume offers a fascinating window into early 20th-century assumptions about progress and the tropical frontier.