Axis-orientation and knowledge transmission: evidence from the Bantu expansion

Arthur Blouin

Journal of Economic Growth, 2021, vol. 26, issue 4, No 1, 359-384

Abstract: Abstract This paper empirically examines Jared Diamond’s axis-orientation technology transmission hypothesis in the context of Sub-Saharan African agriculture. Consistent with Diamond (Guns, germs and steel: a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. Vintage, 1998), societies in southern Africa whose ancestors migrated directly south from west-central Africa—through the rainforest—engage in different types of agricultural activities than societies whose ancestors migrated east—around the rainforest. In particular, those whose ancestors could consistently keep livestock and produce traditional dry-crops throughout their multigenerational migration journey are more likely to engage in these activities today. The differential preference for wet-crop production by those with a rainforest ancestry led to settlements being established in different types of locations. The data suggests that these initial atypical settlement location preferences led to more geographically and culturally isolated societies. This may have disadvantaged these groups with respect to the adoption of any new agricultural goods or processes.

Keywords: Knowledge transmission; Axis orientation; Isolation; Agricultural production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10887-021-09196-9

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