The Evolution of the Major Ports of West Africa

Abstract

IT has been written of Africa that 'foreign trade has been a decisive factor in the emergence of the exchange economy . .. has given rise to conditions favourable to the development of agriculture and local industries' (Neumark, 1964). A long period of colonial dependence resulted in the African economies displaying serious imbalance, both in being overwhelmingly dependent on the export of a limited range of primary products and in being oriented toward overseas countries?in 1965 a mere 6 per cent of the total trade of the African countries crossed over their land frontiers. (E.C.A., 1967). In Africa 'foreign trade' is largely synonymous with 'overseas trade' and the ports therefore assume a critical role in the development process. The traditional phase.?In the politico-economic development of West Africa certain distinct phases can be identified, in each of which there were particular demands for port facilities. The first definite European contacts with the coast and the establishment of their earliest settlements date from the fifteenth century. Initially, the main attractions of the West African coast were gold, pepper (Afromomium melegueta?Guinea grain) and ivory, for which the Europeans exchanged a variety of manufactured goods, including cloth, woollen goods, brass and copper bangles and domestic equipment. In the seventeenth century, after the opening up of the American and Caribbean region, slaves became the main export of the West African coast. Both imports and exports were small in quantity, easily handled from ship to shore by boat or canoe and did not therefore demand elaborate port facilities. Slaves, as the main 'bulk' cargo, had the distinct advantage to the shipper of being mobile and to a large extent self-stowing. The ocean-going ships lay at anchor, at varying distances from the shore and with very considerable variations in the degree of shelter; however, apart from the inconvenience of a long swell in the more exposed roadsteads, there were no great problems of cargo handling. The main requirement was a partially sheltered beach landing and selection was based on careful appreciation of the land and water site factors. Much of the early trade took place on the ship's deck, a process that would have been easier at the river ports than on the open coast. In time the landing places were protected by forts and these provided the market and warehouse accommodation for imports and exports. For almost four centuries fort and port were synonymous in West Africa. The ports were by no means evenly distributed along the coast (Figure 1). The pattern in part represents the physical geography of the coastlands but of greater importance was the trade potential. The lack of forts on the 700 mile stretch of coast from Sherbro to Assinie resulted from the relative sparsity of the population, the general lack of navigable waterways or sizeable coastal indentations and the limited trade potential once the melegueta pepper had been displaced by cheaper and better quality peppers from the Far East. Conversely, the great concentration of ports in