Confronting colonial legacies—lessons from human development in Ghana and Kenya, 1880–2000

A growing body of scholarly research locates the roots of Africa's poverty in its colonial past. However, studies avoid tracing Africa's 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.