First economies were monetized by annihilating the pre-colonial currencies which had represented a rudimentary monetization, but which were as limited as currencies that they would have been a serious obstacle to fundamental monetization. They were annihilated by depreciation and displacement so that the way was paved for the development of a modern monetary system. With pre-colonial currencies displaced, and the European currencies firmly installed in their place, the real task of monetization began, and this was mainly the task of making the new medium of exchange thoroughly pervasive in the economy.

First, they encouraged wage labour often by force – for instance, by appropriating arable land from Africans and thus reducing them first to squatters and arable land from Africans and thus reducing them first to squatters and eventually to wage labourers on their land. The expansion of wage labour not only had the advantage of monetizing the economy but also of facilitating the control of the economy and a more reliable supply of labour. Second, African economies were monetized by imposing taxes and insisting on payment of taxes with the European currency.

COLONIALISM AND THE CAPITALIST PENETRATION OF AFRICA