This Is What They Don’t Teach You About Pre-Colonial Africa

How Our Brilliant African Past Holds the Keys to a Prosperous Future

Mansa Musa, the ninth king of the Mali Empire, built one of the most extensive trade networks in Africa.

In the West, Africa is often portrayed as a continent without history before slavery and colonialism. Here’s the truth that’s so often overlooked: 

Africa had an amazing history before white people ever stepped foot on the continent. 

Yes, this sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people have no idea that some of the world’s greatest civilizations flourished in Africa—like the kingdoms of Mali, Kush, and Benin. 

Here’s what’s even more surprising:

Our brilliant African past holds the keys to Africa’s prosperous future. 

So, in the spirit of moving forward, I’d like to take some time today to reflect on three lessons that we can draw from our ancestors. 

1. Markets Are Ancient African Institutions

Africa Unchained by Professor George Ayittey is one of the most illuminating books on African history that I’ve ever read. Generations of socialist leaders claimed that markets were a Western import into Africa, and Professor Ayittey shatters that myth. 

Markets were ancient institutions across Africa. 

They were especially prevalent in West Africa. In the words of the anthropologist Elliott Skinner, “There were a few regions where aboriginal markets were absent—in parts of Liberia, southwestern Ivory Coast, and in certain portions of the plateau regions of Nigeria. Nevertheless, even here people engaged in trade, and benefited from the markets of contiguous areas.”

And here’s what I find even more interesting: Many of these traditional markets were run by women (and in most West African countries, they got to keep the profits)! 

Women have always been—and continue to be—the backbone of market activity in Africa. 

2. Free Enterprise and Free Trade Were the Norm

In precolonial Africa, the government intervening in the economy was an exception, not the rule.

One such exception, the Dahomey kingdom, eventually collapsed under the weight of its bureaucracy and convoluted regulations. BUT—and this is a big but—even the Dahomey kingdom, which restricted the sale of certain commodities, had a largely hands-off approach to trade. Ayittey found that fewer than 20 commodities—out of thousands—were restricted by Dahomey leaders. Everything else was subject to free trade. 

Trade across Africa was mostly unfettered. Indigenous governments didn’t dictate what crops peasants should raise or restrict access to goods. People bought and sold of their own free will, without asking permission. They made their own decisions about their own livelihoods. 

Just look at the Masai, Somali, and Fulani, who herded cattle over long distances. Or the kente weavers of Ghana. Or the sculptors of Yoruba. 

Free trade is our indigenous heritage. 

3. Economic Development Doesn’t Mean Giving Up Our Cultures

When I talk about Africa’s need for entrepreneurial capitalism, I often get this pushback: “Industrialization and start-ups are the West’s idea of development,” or “That’s for Silicon Valley, not Africa.” 

Give me a break. Successful economic development doesn’t require Africans to adopt foreign values. 

Yes, Africa needs to find a distinctively African path to prosperity. I’ve never suggested otherwise. 

But to claim that Africa can prosper without the benefits of entrepreneurial capitalism—jobs, resources, innovations, social mobility, investment—flies in the face of history. 

All successful societies have relied on economic development and trade to create prosperity for their people. Just look at Mansa Musa, the ninth king of the Mali Empire, who built one of the most extensive trade networks in Africa. Mali’s wealth was reinvested in infrastructure, architecture, economic growth, and education—and people flourished. 

And guess what? Mansa Musa’s subjects were still 100% African.

Welcoming economic development doesn’t mean transforming Africa into some watered-down version of Silicon Valley. 

It means asking, What do we Africans want and need, and what actions can we take to get ourselves there? What will help our people lead fulfilled, happy, prosperous lives—on our own terms? 

History shows that it’s part of our African heritage—not a Western idea—to pursue free trade, economic development, and entrepreneurial capitalism. 

We must refuse the labels often applied to indigenous African societies—“backward,” “primitive,” and “inferior”—and look to the economic wisdom of our own ancestors to pave a path to prosperity.

The blueprint for Africa’s Bright Future lives within the wisdom of the past—we just have to be willing to follow it with open minds and hearts.