This study arises from the need for comparative historical perspectives on the different styles of French and British colonialism, and the localised impacts of the regimes in West Africa. The work is broadly divided as: an overview, including a summary of new trends in African historiography; an examination of colonial methods; a study of socio-economic impact and the impact on indigenous political institutions and culture. A considerable part of the study addresses the question: How did the colonial styles of governance determine the post-colonial states? The author identifies a major point of divergence to be French centralising and assimilationist tendencies in education and the economy, as opposed to a British laissez-faire approach. This explains, in part, the uniformity in currency, language and culture which makes francophone Africa a distinctive cultural zone. Common concerns - which stem from the pre-colonial era - were mainly trade and trans-border co-operation. Pursuance of common goals, the author stipulates, paved the way for institutions of economic integration - e.g. ECOWAS.

Boundaries are inherently artificial - they interpose barriers between people which do not exist by any fundamental law of human organization. The contrast between the intentions of those who police boundaries and those who are affected by them is part of the paradoxical nature of boundaries throughout the world. In Africa the paradoxes were accentuated, as colonial powers constructed new boundaries for their own purposes, altering the pre-colonial perceptions of the boundary and its functions.;This study discusses the development and function of African boundaries from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Beginning with the historical perspective, the book then considers the impact of boundaries on pastoralists, the use of borders as "cordons sanitaire" against diseases, the perception of political space and the role of borders as places of residence and refuge. The book examines borders in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Zaire.;Finally, European comparisons are drawn in order to assess the extent to which African boundaries are unusual, and to make an assessment of their future development.