A quick note on finding historical statistics on African colonies: Home

1. Almost every African country was founded within the past fifty years. This means -- for historical research -- you must build up a synonym set of colonial names and national names for your country. This can be obvious -- Congo OR Zaire -- but you must accommodate foreign-language names where appropriate -- Cameroon OR Cameroun OR Kamerun -- and the complicated genealogy of very old colonies -- Nigeria OR "Niger Coast" OR "Oil Rivers" OR "Lagos Colony". Consider this one:

Quiz question: What African countries were founded more than fifty years ago?

2. Colonial-era statistics are hard to locate. You should start with the Mitchell statistical compendium mentioned in class by Nick Okrent. Take care to check Mitchell's notes for the next step. Another GREAT bibliographic source is:

and also see the Penn Library research guide on Health and Society in Africa, URL:

3. A stupid Franklin searching tip for colonial-era publications. You're looking for old books and periodicals, right? So when you've got a search result, change the sort order to "Pub date (old-new)."

4. Colonial-era statistics are often buried in handbooks and annual report-type publications. Depending on how and when we collected them, you will need to visit Van Pelt Reference, the Van Pelt LC AND Dewey stacks, or the University Museum Library, or request volumes from LIBRA. And remember: French books usually have their tables of contents at the end.

5. If Mitchell doesn't satisfy you, go deeper. You will want to examine:

Most colonial-agency statistical publications do NOT provide social and economic data: they're interested in commerce, specifically exports. On the other hand, some British colonies produced their own "handbooks", which usually contain directory-like information but sometimes have statistical information or discussion of social and economic topics. Try a Franklin keyword expert search: Follow up on your searching, but be prepared for frustration.

6. Some quick, good hits. For French colonial Africa, take a look at these statistical abstracts:

British colonies issued annual statistical abstracts, called Blue Books. Our Blue Book holdings at present are strong but scattered among the Van Pelt stacks, LIBRA, and microfilm reels in Van Pelt Microtext. Don't bother trying this keyword expert search in Franklin:

Instead, consult the research guide, Blue Books for Colonial British Africa in the Penn Libraries.

The Blue Books were considered so opaque that Parliament required Annual Reports to explain them. These Annual Reports are found in a couple different ways.

Stanford University Libraries prepared a finding aid for the annual reports of African colonies appearing in the series, Colonial Reports-Annual, for 1920-1938, covering reports numbered 1072 through 1936. The Stanford finding aid appears to have been suppressed in 2015, but it lives on in the Internet Archive.

Use the Stanford table below with the HathiTrust digitized versions from University of Illinois, covering report nos. 1555-1895 (published in 1930-1937) or to retrieve specific printed reports by report number from LIBRA, covering nos. 1414-1936.

	Colonial reports: Ashanti 1920-1925/26
nos.	1107	1142	1200	1252	1289	1339
	Colonial reports: Basutoland 1920/21-1938
nos.	1085	1131	1176	1212	1244	1292	1336	1385	1428	1490	1527	1583	1628	1666	1723	1760	1804	1854	1898
	Colonial reports: Bechuanaland 1920/21-38
nos.	1083	1133	1178	1210	1269	1317	1379	1424	1438	1491	1554	1579	1650	1687	1742	1792	1809	1871	1911
	Colonial reports: Gambia 1920-1938
nos.	1120	1121	1160	1201	1249	1306	1347	1399	1444	1506	1543	1572	1616	1664	1715	1755	1799	1852	1893
	Colonial reports: Gold Coast 1920-1938/39
nos.	1119	1154	1207	1255	1287	1333	1386	1418	1464	1504	1559	1602	1657	1684	1748	1785	1836	1882	1919
	Colonial reports: Northern Territories of the Gold Coast 1919-1925/26
nos.	1082	1105	1126	1194	1229	1284	1328
	Colonial reports: Kenya Colony and Protectorate 1920-1923, 1926, 1928-38
nos.	1073	1089	1122	1153	1188	1227	1282	1321	1352	1425	1463	1510	1562	1606	1659	1688	1722	1771	1806	1858/ 1920
	Colonial reports: Mauritius 1920-1938
nos.	1115	1149	1179	1234	1281	1332	1373	1400	1465	1503	1549	1597	1627	1685	1731	1770	1828	1874	1905
	Colonial reports: Nigeria 1920-1938
nos.	1098	1114	1155	1197	1245	1315	1335	1384	1435	1493	1528	1569	1625	1668	1710	1763	1842	1886	1904
	Colonial reports: Northern Rhodesia 1924/25-1938
nos.					1292	1363	1380	1410	1470	1516	1561	1592	1626	1669	1721	1769	1811	1868	1935
	Colonial reports: Nyasaland 1919/20-1938
nos.	1075	1096	1156	1162	1204	1257	1296	1389	1445	1489	1545	1580	1658	1665	1739	1776	1824	1885	1902
	Colonial reports: Seychelles 1920-1924, 1926-1937
nos.	1106	1146	1191	1236	1272	1329	1375	1420	1450	1484	1560	1609	1651	1700	1747	1772	1844	1890
	Colonial reports: Sierra Leone 1920-1934, 1936-1938
nos.	1090	1150	1165	1219	1275	1320	1359	1417	1430	1476	1532	1578	1631	1678	1744	1829	1873	1916
	Colonial reports: Somaliland 1920-1937
nos.	1100	1152	1193	1226	1271	1316	1355	1390	1451	1479	1524	1570	1613	1660	1707	1758	1815	1880
	Colonial reports: Swaziland 1920/21, 1922-1938
nos.	1102	1138	1180	1211	1261	1307	1340	1404	1459	1501	1553	1594	1654	1694	1740	1793	1831	1884	1921
	Colonial reports: Uganda Protectorate 1919/20-1938
nos.	1079	1112	1151	1182	1220	1280	1318	1377	1392	1439	1486	1556	1601	1645	1670	1729	1773	1810	1860	1903
	Colonial reports: Zanzibar Protectorate 1920-1938
nos.	1091	1125	1163	1209	1254	1312	1346	1397	1434	1480	1529	1587	1623	1675	1706	1766	1807	1847	1892