Pre-colonial Africa: Diversity in Organization and Management of Economy and Society

Management was integral to state organization, traditional hierarchical stratificationof authority, and ownership of resources in Africa. The history of dynamicstate formation, challenge of authority and conquest in Africa. Limited separationexisted between state and commercial activity. Islam expanded and conqueredindigenous empires, while some indigenous peoples converted to Islam. Traditionalmanagement was integral to state management. In some geographicallocations, the monarch allowed private enterprise and decentralized managementof commerce. In West Africa, more decentralized commercial managementoccurred, while in East Africa Muslim traders controlled trade routes. Thischapter shows how state formation and business management develop in paralleltrajectories before colonial intervention. Limited organizational structuresemerged as distinct managerial in origin. This chapter illustrates diversity ofmanagement culture and sophistication before the late nineteenth centur