Something I don't understand. The Mali were trading slaves through the northern trans-Saharan route before the Europeans arrived seeking gold and slaves. Why didn't the Songhai (who were at the height of their power in the 16th cent) not take advantage of rising European demand for slaves at the time? And what was going on in the region between 1591 and the early 1800's?
From what I understand, more and more textile products are being transported via air freight due to falling costs. Do you think some moderate investment in airports specialised for cargo handling will enable some landlocked African countries to get their taste of industrialisation? Other textiles what other products (manufactured or otherwise) are being transported via air freight and what products will join the air freight club in the future as costs continue to fall?
Would be a confederation of independent city states be better model for the Sahel as opposed to modern nation states due to their weak cultural links, lack of state capacity, and large nomadic population?
Is artisanal mining actually bad? I know western media calls it modern day slavery but they call anything below a six figure salary as exploitation. Like won't artisanal mining where you are directly employing thousands of low skilled locals better than capital intensive mining which would largely employ a few foreign workers.
There are political economy implications as well. If you use capital intensive mining you can totally fuck over the locals. If you're doing artisanal mining you have keep locals happy and they probably unionise.
Australia used to have artisanal mining and that's where the union culture here originates.
I'd imagine artisanal mining is worse than sweatshops but better than subsistence farming. Are my assumptions incorrect?
Something I don't understand. The Mali were trading slaves through the northern trans-Saharan route before the Europeans arrived seeking gold and slaves. Why didn't the Songhai (who were at the height of their power in the 16th cent) not take advantage of rising European demand for slaves at the time? And what was going on in the region between 1591 and the early 1800's?
From what I understand, more and more textile products are being transported via air freight due to falling costs. Do you think some moderate investment in airports specialised for cargo handling will enable some landlocked African countries to get their taste of industrialisation? Other textiles what other products (manufactured or otherwise) are being transported via air freight and what products will join the air freight club in the future as costs continue to fall?
Would be a confederation of independent city states be better model for the Sahel as opposed to modern nation states due to their weak cultural links, lack of state capacity, and large nomadic population?
Is artisanal mining actually bad? I know western media calls it modern day slavery but they call anything below a six figure salary as exploitation. Like won't artisanal mining where you are directly employing thousands of low skilled locals better than capital intensive mining which would largely employ a few foreign workers.
There are political economy implications as well. If you use capital intensive mining you can totally fuck over the locals. If you're doing artisanal mining you have keep locals happy and they probably unionise.
Australia used to have artisanal mining and that's where the union culture here originates.
I'd imagine artisanal mining is worse than sweatshops but better than subsistence farming. Are my assumptions incorrect?