Periodic Markets in Sierra Leone∗

Periodic marketing systems were absent from southwestern West Africa in precolonial times because of the lack of significant interregional trade, generally low levels of suprasubsistence production, and unstable political and economic conditions. Trade was stimulated during the colonial period, but it was largely preempted by nonindigenous entrepreneurs, and it was channeled through the nascent urban hierarchy rather than through indigenous periodic markets. The existing system has been unable to meet the increased recent demand for foodstuffs, and a new system of indigenous periodic rural market places has emerged.