West Africa had a diversified precolonial economy centered on agriculture and widespread trade.

Evidence

As in all preindustrial societies, agriculture was the chief occupation of most Africans. Agricultural surplus in turn made it possible to finance other types of production, the most important of which were clothing manufacture, iron working, ceramics, construction, and food processing. Exchange was widespread within West Africa before the arrival of the French; as the economic historian Anthony Hopkins has shown, most households regarded trade as a normal and integral part of their activities. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 113

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in whether French colonial rule disrupted or built upon preexisting West African economic integration.