Hi, and welcome to the course African Development from the past to the present. My name is Ellen Hillbom, and I'm professor of Economic History at Lund University in Sweden. The first time that we meet, I start with a short introduction presenting the intent, and the content of the course. All of you who choose to follow this course have different reasons for doing so. Unfortunately, we cannot all share our stories, but I can give you background explaining my own motivation with making the course. My fascination with the Africa continent started when I was a student going on my first trips to Botswana and Tanzania in the second half of the 1990s. Reading, traveling, and meeting people opened up a world that I knew very little about beforehand. I became interested in understanding the development challenges that the African countries face, and their historical roots. Ever since then, I have focused my research on producing new knowledge about the economic aspects of Africa's history, and the processes of change that have led up to the regions current development challenges. I only have two overriding ambitions. First, to show the diversity of the region, and the complexity of the various histories. Second, to focus on the lives and choices of the local and grassroot levels and how people manoeuvre within the larger economic, political, and social structures. I hope that by the end of this course, I have managed to share some of my passion and insights with you. I believe that there is a growing interest for an online course about African development with a historical perspective. With a spread in digital revolution, more people within and outside the continent can follow a course like this one. Also the way that Africa is perceived has changed quite radically since the turn of the millennium. It is becoming one of the global hotspots, and to understand where it is heading, we need to know more about where it comes from. Let me give you an example of the changing perceptions. In the 1980s and 1990s, Africa was the poorest continent in the world, and in the international community it was often associated with hunger crisis, political instability, and poverty. In 2000, the Economist wrote about it as the hopeless continent. Around the same time, some economists claim that Africa had always been economically stagnant. However, in the last two decades, several African countries have shown rather impressive growth rates. Africa has received increasing positive attention from economists, policymakers, and politicians. The continent has been coupled with concepts such as emerging markets, meaning future markets for private investors. In 2011, the Economist changed the tune writing about Africa rising, and in 2013, the journal referred to the Aspiring Africa. The new interest shown by the business world was a clear indication that Africa had entered a time of significant economic and social change. Optimism is good, but there remains significant challenges for economic development. While there has been reduction in poverty, it is less than we might have hoped. Most countries have not experienced major structural changes of their economies, meaning that there has been no emergence of new productive sectors, such as industry or productive service sectors. These countries are still to a large degree dependent on exporting their natural resources and agricultural products. Fertility rates remain high, but the growing number of young people have few job opportunities. The agricultural sector has engaged a large share of the population and is still characterized by traditional technology and limited market opportunities and so on. The list of development challenges is much longer. During the course, I will try to strike a balance between discussing both the opportunities and challenges. Both of the Afro-optimism emphasizing recent growth, and the Afro-pessimists pointing out the remaining challenges are right at the same time. There is no unanimous story to tell. Africa, south of the Sahara consists of 48 countries with a total population of around one billion. There are significant political, economic, social, and cultural differences within, and between these countries. The region has a multifaceted story with a multitude of dynamic processes of socio-economic change. This is therefore not a course about Africa's economy and social history but about its histories, in plural, and how they have been woven together. Throughout the course, I will try to show some of this great variation by referring to empirical examples. Both past and present, from all over the region. In this course, I will cover the economic history of Africa over the last centuries. This is an overwhelming, and even impossible task. To manage it, I have set up a number of delimitations. It is important that I'm explicit about these delimitations from the start so that you understand what you can expect from me. First, my focus is on the region's economic history, and some of its social implications. This means that I will not be covering the broader social, political, and cultural aspects of Africa's history. These aspects are of great importance, but outside my field of expertise. Second, I have in mind Africa's south of the Sahara when I talk about Africa. Like the majority of scholars in the field, I consider there to be a cultural linguistic, political, economic, and historical divide between North Africa, consisting of Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, which historically has had closer connections to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the rest of Africa. Third, I do address older history such as the economy of pre-colonial societies, the slave trade, African international trade prior to colonialism and European conquest. But my main focus is on the last 100 years. It is the period for which we have the best evidence for analyzing economic systems. I also believe that it is the period that many of you are the most interested in. The course is organized in 5 Modules. First, the Introduction together with the presentation of the theoretical framework and a review of how literature in the field has developed. Second, three lectures on economic and political systems before colonization. Third, a Module on the colonial conquest, and the main changes during the colonial era for example, new taxation systems. Forth, the independence era, including the political struggle, economic structures in efforts to change them, and the economic crisis and it's aftermaths. Fifth, the current conditions and challenges for the continent such as demographic change, inter- regional collaboration, economic growth, and the changing role in the global economy. I will use two books that provide you with additional information, and make a good baseline reading for those who are interested in the examination. First, I have a textbook that is freely available online, the title is "The History of African Development. An Online Textbook for a New Generation of African Students and Teachers". It is edited by me and three colleagues, Ewout Frankema, Felix Meier zu Selhausen, and Ushuwedu Kufakurinani. It is published as an activity in the African Economic History network. The chapters are thematic and are of high quality as they are written by well-established academics from all over the world. The texts are free of academic jargon and easily accessible for all. For those of you who have the opportunity to spend some money, there is also a textbook that I have written together with Erik Green called "An Economic History of Development in Sub-Saharan Africa", published by Palgrave MacMillan. Much of the material in the lectures is based on this book. I'm indebted to Erik for the way that he has shared his knowledge, and inspired my own understanding of Africa and its economic history. This textbook is written for undergraduate students, and is more advanced than the online textbook. It covers the whole region over the last 1000 years and presents the latest perspectives in the field of African economic history. This was all that I wanted to say as an introduction to the course. Let me start, and I hope that you will find this course interesting.
