African history, culture & futures — told by us
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Long reads on African history, governance, economics, culture, and what comes next.

All eras Ancient (before 500 CE) Medieval (500–1500 CE) Pre-colonial (1500–1884) Colonial era (1884–1960s) Independence era (1960s–2000) Contemporary (2000–present) Future systems & solutions
Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

AfCFTA at five — what has moved, and what is still mostly paperwork

The African Continental Free Trade Area entered force on 1 January 2021. The launch narrative — a single market of 1.3 billion people, $3.4 trillion in combined GDP, …

1 min read · Pan-African · 29 views
Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

ZIMRA tariff bands and smallholder maize — the unintended consequences

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) operates the import-tariff regime that interacts with the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) state-monopoly framework to determine the effective price of maize at Zimbabwean …

2 min read · Southern Africa, Zimbabwe · 20 views
Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Buhari's border closures and the Nigerian rice politics they were meant to fix

In August 2019 the Buhari administration closed Nigeria's land borders with Benin, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. The closures lasted, formally, until December 2020 — though the easing was …

1 min read · West Africa, Nigeria · 22 views