Merchant capital and underdevelopment in Sierra Leone

Abstract

This article follows up the theoretical work of Kay on the relationship between merchant capital and underdevelopment with an empirical study. Merchant capital in the form of trading enterprises came to Sierra Leone to extract raw materials and sell manufactured goods. Zack‐Williams details this process and briefly examines its effects on the social formation. He notes the failure of merchant capital to transform the social formation and as a corrollary to make the transition to industrial capital through investment in manufacturing. Only the United Africa Company shows signs of making this transition and that only recently.