Trade/Commerce story
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The Making of a Legend: What the “Crocodile” Story Leaves Out
A Historical In-depth Discovery of Trade in West Africa Since 1896 Here’s what you need to know: Here’s the legend, as it’s usually …
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Four Acts of a Collapse: The Rise and Fall of the Niger Delta’s “Trust” Merchants
A Historical In-depth Discovery of Trade in West Africa Since 1896 Here’s what you need to know: For three decades, becoming wealthy in the Nige…
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The Investigation: What Colonial Officials Found When They Finally Asked
A Historical In-depth Discovery of Trade in West Africa Since 1896 Here’s what you need to know: At a formal hearing in the coastal town of Salt…
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The Numbers Game: Four Small Countries vs. Two Trade Superpowers
Here’s what you need to know: The C-4 countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali — together account for barely 5% of global cotton producti…
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The Trial That Never Happened: Burkina Faso vs. Monsanto
A Historical In-depth Discovery of Trade in West Africa Since 1896 Here’s what you need to know: In April 2016, Burkina Faso’s cotton indu…
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1979: The Day Burkina Faso “Owned” Its Cotton Company — On Paper
A Historical In-depth Discovery of Trade in West Africa Since 1896 Here’s what you need to know: On paper, June 20, 1979, looks like a genuine m…
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1924: The Cotton Policy So Disastrous It Erased a Colony
Here’s what you need to know: A cotton policy failed so badly that the colony enforcing it was dissolved — wiped off the map entirely for fiftee…
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The 2022 “Burkina 2050” Protests: When a Railway Became aReferendum on Sovereignty
Hundreds of people marched through Ouagadougou under a single banner —“Burkina 2050” — demanding a French company be stripped of its autho…
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The Broken 2016 Promise on the Kaya–Tambao Extension
103 kilometers. That’s how far Burkina Faso’s railway toward Tambao’s manganese depositsactually reaches — a stretch of track that h…
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The 2022 MSC Sale & the 2025 Money-LaunderingComplaint: Did Bolloré Sell Its Way Out of Accountability?
Bolloré didn’t just sell its African ports and rail empire for €5.7 billion in 2022. It walked away with a €3.15 billion profit on that single t…