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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Feeding America's War Machine: The United States and Economic Expansion in West Africa during World War Two |
Author: | Oyebade, Adebayo |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | African Economic History |
Volume: | 26 |
Pages: | 119-140 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | West Africa United States |
Subjects: | international trade World War II History and Exploration Economics and Trade |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3601693 |
Abstract: | By the eve of World War II, American commerce with Africa was at a low ebb. In the years immediately preceding the war, only 4.2 percent of total United States exports went to Africa, while imports from Africa constituted only 3.3 percent of total imports. The Second World War brought about a significant US interest in Africa, leading to a tremendous increase in American commerce with the continent, especially the Belgian Congo, South Africa, and West Africa. By 1943, US exports to Africa had risen to an all-time high figure of 11.6 percent of total American exports. Likewise, imports from Africa, mainly of crude materials, reached a peak of 7.4 percent of total imports in 1942. This paper examines the impact of the Second World War on the United States' economic relations with Africa, taking West Africa as the area of reference. It shows that as the war progressed and the Axis powers overran Southeast Asia, America's previous major source of strategic materials, the West African market became indispensable. By the end of the war, a substantial number of American businesses were operating in West Africa through agents of their own or through British, French, Swiss or Syrian firms. Notes, ref. |