Michalopoulos, Stelios and Papaioannou, Elias (2013) The long-run effects of the scramble for Africa. Working Paper. Coventry, UK: Department of Economics, University of Warwick. CAGE Online Working Paper Series, Volume 2013 (Number 162).

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Abstract

We examine the long-run consequences of the scramble for Africa among European powers in the
late 19th century and uncover the following empirical regularities. First, utilizing information on the
spatial distribution of African ethnicities before colonization, we show that apart from the land mass
and water area of an ethnicity’s historical homeland, no other geographic, economic, and historical
trait, including proxies of pre-colonial conflict, predicts partitioning by the national borders. Second, we
exploit a detailed geo-referenced database that records various types of conflict across African regions
and show that civil conflict is concentrated in the historical homeland of partitioned ethnicities. We
also document that violence against civilians (child soldiering, village burning, abductions, rapes) and
territorial changes between rebel groups, militias, and government forces are more prevalent in the
homelands of split groups. These results are robust to a rich set of local controls, the inclusion of
country fixed effects and ethnic-family fixed effects. The uncovered evidence brings in the foreground
the violent repercussions of an important aspect of European colonization, that of ethnic partitioning.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DT Africa H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Colonies -- Africa -- History -- 19th century , Economic development -- Africa -- 20th century, Ethnic groups -- Africa, Ethnic conflict -- Africa
Series Name:	CAGE Online Working Paper Series
Publisher:	Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Place of Publication:	Coventry, UK
Official Date:	September 2013
Volume:	Volume 2013
Number:	Number 162
Number of Pages:	83
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published

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