Political Economy of Yorubaland Prior to Colonialism

Abstract

One of the negative effects of colonialism on African societies was the disruption, and eventual replacement of indigenous social and economic structures, sub-structures and superstructues with structures of global capitalism, for the purpose of easy appropriation of local resoruces for the benefit of the metropolis. The supplanting of centuries-old and tested structures of the Yoruba people of South-western Nigeria, not only weakned the fabrics that held the society together, but also rendered the people and their culture amenable and vulnerable to the exploitative tendencies of British clononial machineries. This paper explores the political economy of Yorubaland prior to colonialism. It demonstrates how pre-colonial society structures synergised to create orderliness. ensure prosperity and maintain inter-class harmony among the people, using taxation as its unit of analysis. The paper posits that the pre-colonial finansing system of the government which was modified to provide a fulcrum on which the colonial tax adminstration rested. In essence, the paper sheds light on the sources of revenue of the various government in pre-colonial Yorubaland, all of which the British encapsulated in taxation, rents and dues.