Native tax payment was usually the first and deepest sign of the colonial order in African territories. In general, all colonial powers depended heavily on this income, which for most traditional societies represented a completely different way of showing political legitimacy.
Collecting taxes was sometimes almost an impossible task imposed on the inferior levels of colonial administration. However, conflicts between pre-capitalist societies and monetarised economies were further aggravated in the case of the Chartered companies, corporations empowered with State roles over vast areas of the African colonies.
This panel intends to debate the contradictions of the colonial tax policies in Tropical Africa. It will focus on Portuguese and French Africa on the period 1920-1945, a time where intense cyclical price and export fluctuations disrupted the colonial societies.
