Pre-colonial African Economics: Examining Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"

New parents are often told that they need to give their children the freedom to make mistakes. It is said that a young human learns best by adapting to their own mistakes and the stimuli of their environment, not by the hand of an overprotective parent. Contemporary economies very closely parallel this concept. Innovation tends to come as a result of an openly operating free market – governed by the laws of supply and demand – and not a command economy that has been strangled by authority. Throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, the author, Chinua Achebe, is trying to get the point across that pre-colonial African civilizations have been handed a Western bias that squishes an entire continent into a single story; and so, through his literary work, he develops a refurbished image that allows the complexities of African culture to shine through. In specific, he examines the culture of a cluster of villages in 19th century Nigeria. Although it may not be the main focus of his writing, the various details of a high functioning economy in Igboland develop ideas of self-sufficiency and innovation potential. The high ceiling for innovation and economic development is highlighted through Okonkwo’s entrepreneurial journey. The freedom that Okonkwo benefits from when building a business is ripped from the Igbo people when the white men arrive. The initial benefits and stability that trail behind the missionaries are close to deceitful, as they simply covered up for the ultimate destruction of their culture and self-sufficiency. Western bias views the European colonizers as the saviors to a land of savages, but in reality, as Achebe points out throughout the novel, pre-colonial Africa hosted many very advanced civilizations whose economies structurally paralleled the most advanced economies of today. Prior to examining Achebe’s work it is easy to default to a Western bias when thinking about African economics. To a biased mind, Western economies are portrayed as advanced and innovative; African economies, mere barter systems. Achebe chose to fight this bias head on.

Okonkwo started with nothing, born into the debts of his lazy father. But from these economic ashes he rose. With nothing but a drive to be nothing like his father, Okonkwo was determined to find success. He eventually accomplished this goal: acquiring significant wealth. He started as an apprentice to the successful farmer, Nwakibie. “It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first yam seeds.” (Achebe 14). After some time gaining experience in this professional field, Okonkwo found it time to leave in order to start his own farm. The equivalent of the recombination that we constantly see in an entrepreneurial-headed American economy, Okonkwo was an entrepreneur who set out to start a business. Once Okonkwo had cleared a decent mass of land, he returned to Nwakibie for help. But this time around, rather than simply a mentor, Nwakibie now filled the role of an investor, and Okonkwo was raising funds for his start up. Funnily enough, the initial round of investment is generally referred to as the seed stage in venture capital, and Okonkwo was quite literally gathering seeds. Aside from his initial investment encounter with Nwakibie, Okonkwo also built relationships with what were essentially equity investors through sharecropping. The novel refers to sharecropping as “a very slow way of building up a barn of one’s own. After all the toil, one only got a third of the harvest. But for a young man whose father had no yams, there was no other way.” (Achebe 16). He was able to get 400 yam seeds from his father’s friend Isiuzo for this sharecropping. 

Within itself, Okonkwo’s ability to raise the capital necessary to start his own farm single handedly portrays the advantage of a free market. You are not tied down to the name that you are born with, but rather, ideas and ambition can get you ahead. As all protagonists face, Okonkwo battled some pretty serious ups and downs throughout the story. From a business standpoint, he faced some struggles almost immediately. First an unbearable drought, followed by unrelenting rain – his yams did not hold up well his first season. However, the way that Achebe portrays these difficulties further displays the characteristics, and benefits, of an open economy. Following Okonkwo's despair, Unoka tells him that “A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.” (Achebe 18). This reference of general failure as opposed to individual failure is a metaphor for the economic trends of capitalism. Okonkwo has just suffered through a recession, but that does not mean his business has failed. By riding an expansionary period, his success will shortly turn around, as it does, finding himself a successful farm, multiple wives, and a large compound. Achebe could have simply labeled Okonkwo as a farmer who made a living and had a proud name in the village, but instead, he intentionally chose to paint him as an entrepreneur who prided on the successes and trends of a free market.

Self sufficiency is the key to an open economy, and it is what ultimately allows for innovation and development. Capitalism – the bustling heart of America – dominates contemporary economics. The evidence for that is America’s constant technological innovation as well as international economic dominance. From a purely structural standpoint, the free flowing nature of Igboland’s economy is just as advanced as modern capitalism. Achebe did not randomly decide to portray the economics throughout the book this way either, as capitalism was prominent throughout many parts of pre-colonial Africa. In fact many parts of Africa were the first adopters of a truly free market, while the monarchies in Europe were still relying heavily on a command economy. 

It has been argued that capitalism in pre-colonial Africa would not quite fall under the newer definitions of Capitalism, and the biggest difference is seen in the market factors. Modern capitalism is driven by a scarcity of resources, but pre-colonial African markets generally had abundances of resources with a lack of labor. Economic growth in Africa has also not been tracked very well until after colonial rule, so there is not much numerical evidence of rapid economic expansion that follows the pattern of capitalistic trends. Nonetheless, there are historical recounts of significant economic expansion following the shift from slave trade to legitimate trade on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Between the time that slave trade came to an end and European colonization of Africa began (around 1860 to 1880), there was a short period of exponential economic growth that followed an increase in agricultural trade within the continent. “This could be considered rural capitalism, not because of its reliance on wage labor— although that also was featured—but rather because it entailed the investment of borrowed or saved capital for expansion in production for a market.” (Hill 215). When defining this intra-continental agricultural trade, Polly Hill (the author whom I cited) was writing within the context of cocoa production in Ghana. But the same concepts apply to the story of Nigerian trade that was discussed in Things Fall Apart because there was not simply goods being exchanged, but capital being gathered. Okonkwo was a personification of this advanced capital based market, as he took part in borrowing investments of seeds – or capital. Interestingly enough, one of the main goods that fueled this capitalist style growth was palm oil, which is often mentioned as a good of comradery by Achebe throughout the novel. Other consumer goods like tea and coffee, cocoa and grapes, yams and cocoyams served to boost their economic success as well.

The reason that Achebe's portrayal of pre-colonial economics is so important, is that he indirectly proves that African civilizations were self-sufficient, and that the white “saviors” actually halted the economic progress and set innovation in Africa back for centuries to come. When the missionaries initially arrived in Umuofia, they had ultimate goals of taking over and colonizing these bountiful lands; however, the strength of the culture made them initially more hesitant. “Mr. Brown learned a good deal about the religion of the clan and he came to the conclusion that a frontal attack on it would not succeed. And so he built a school and a little hospital in Umuofia.” (Achebe 133). In strategic fashion, Mr. Brown was inclined to integrate the missionaries within the community by providing structure and services. While this quote is descriptive of his plan to slowly develop power in the surrounding area of Igboland, it is also another example of one of the many times that Achebe hints at the complex culture that even just this specific part of Africa hosts. In doing so, he continues to further his argument against the single story of Africa. Although Mr. Brown was portrayed as the gentler of the two missionary leaders – juxtapositioning Reverend Smith – his goal was still to gain power in the community, in order to extract the natural resources. When the missionaries arrived they brought a new economic system that had many shiny benefits upfront, but abruptly reverted the capitalistic growth that had just begun. 

At the time of colonization, most of Africa was objectively technologically behind many other parts of the world, especially behind the European powerhouses like England. When seeing the white man’s bicycle, the Umuofian people even referred to it as an iron horse. Along with these technological advancements, the colonial economic system also seemed very beneficial for the African people at first. “There were many men and women in Umuofia who did not feel as strongly as Okonkwo about the new dispensation. The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store and for the first time palm-oil and kernel became things of great price, and much money flowed into Umuofia.” (Achebe 131). It brought prosperity, but this new economic system also relied too heavily on exportation, and the exploitation of natural resources. The immense rush of money from cash crop export could not be maintained, and 50 years later the economic benefits that the white man had brought would prove to be detrimental to Africa’s long term economic success. Innovative and prosperous, African economies could have eventually become; but the English colonizers forever set them off course. This was because the economy was no longer self-sufficient within the continent, and it no longer functioned freely. The European trading powers set unnatural prices and strictly regulated trade while also implementing new tax systems. 

It is fair to acknowledge that the European colonizers did provide African villages with a new found stability and steady economic success. As well as streamlining cash crop trade, the European colonizers also brought with them new mining technology and railways. African villages were now able to trade natural resources that they previously had little to no access to. However, the issue is that the colonizers had always planned to stay there temporarily, and the moment the Europeans picked up and left, the African economy was bound to fall back into a hole, as it was no longer able to rely on itself. The African culture had shifted to operate within the bounds of a exportation-oriented command economy, and so the once bright light of capitalism that shone in villages like Umuofia went out, and remained dark even after the decolonization in the 20th century. 

A successful economy is so reliant on a strong and diverse culture, because ultimately, it depends on the people’s willingness to participate in trade. Through reading Things Fall Apart and examining historical research, it is evident that cultural diversity was dominant in pre-colonial Africa, unlike the Western bias that paints all of Africa as a uniform herd of tribal savages. The entrance of missionaries into African civilizations caused a deterioration of their culture, exemplified by the many Igbo people in Things Fall Apart, like Nwoye, who converted to Christianity and followed the word of the white men. After viciously stabbing their culture, the white man then removed the blood stained knife and shoved it into the economy that stood beside it. 

Achebe is trying to get many points on the table, but the centerpiece is the concept that pre-colonial Africa was much more sophisticated than common Western literature sloppily sets it out to be; and at the center of any advanced civilization, there is a structurally sound economy to keep it up and running. That is why the close examination of economics throughout the Igbo villages is so important in representing the advanced nature of pre-colonial Africa, specifically Nigeria, as well as the room for innovation. The strength and self-sufficiency of their economy also directly combats the idea that Africa was in dire need of saving by white colonizers. A strong economy is not necessarily pretty, and an advanced civilization does not always run smoothly. Achebe makes sure to acknowledge this by highlighting many cultural as well as economic imperfections: from the holes in their religion, to the suffering of a detrimental recession. Although a lot of Achebe’s argument consists of expressing the complexities and advanced nature of Nigerian society, he is far from claiming that Africa is perfect in any sense. Alternatively, he is paralleling the culture and economy of Africa to those of the modern West, in order to show their structural similarities as well as open the door to many different stories of pre-colonial Africa. Not just one.

Works Cited

 

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Books, 2017.

Hill, Polly. “The Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana.” JSTOR, Cambridge University 

Press, 1963.

Bibliography

Austin, Gareth. Markets With, Without, and in Spite of States: West Africa in the Pre-Colonial 

Nineteenth Century, London School of Economics, Sept. 2003.

Green, Erik. “Production Systems in Pre-Colonial Africa.” The History of African Development, 

AEH Network, 

www.aehnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Green.Production-Systems-in-Pre-Colonial-Africa.pdf. 

Obiego, Amarachi. “The Economy of Umuofia, as Told by Chinua Achebe (1930–2013).” 

Medium, Medium, 27 Mar. 2020, medium.com/@amarachiobiego/the-economy-of-umuofia-as-told-by-chinua-achebe-1930-2013-74931a21d980.