Confronting Colonial Legacies - Lessons from Human Development in Ghana and Kenya, 1880-2000

A growing body of scholarly research locates the roots of Africas poverty in its colonial past. However, studies avoid tracing Africas development over the full course of history. In this paper, I quantify the changes in well-being of the African population in Ghana and Kenya, at the regional level, during the years 1880-2000. By using body stature as a measure of nutritional status I overcome the scarcity and unreliability of historical data. The two countries had a much more diverse development under colonial times than commonly assumed, with phases of substantial progress (which was also unevenly distributed between the regions). Based on these new findings I confront the existing colonial legacy literature and point to possible lessons that can be drawn from human development over the last 120 years.