The African Commodity Trade Database (ACTD 2.0) aims to stimulate and deepen research on African and global economic history. The database provides export series at the commodity level from all African countries for more than two centuries of African trade (1790-2020). The data from the ACTD 2.0 is freely available as long as reference is made to: Frankema, Ewout & Meier zu Selhausen, Felix (2026). ‘Africa’s Mineral Transition in Long-Term Perspective,’ AEHN Working Paper No. 86, African Economic History Network.
ACTD 2.0
Prices, quantities and values, 1790-2020: ACTD_2_Frankema_Meier_zu_Selhausen_Sept2026
Supplemental Material
– Notes on the ACTD: ACTD_2_Frankema_Meier_zu_Selhausen_Notes
– British Customs Records, 1697-1808, unprocessed: ACTD_1697t1808_raw_data
Contact and Acknowledgements
The data was collected by the Economic and Environmental History Group at Wageningen University and Social and Economic History Group at Utrecht University. The construction of this database has been enabled by the generous funding by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) AMMODO Science Award for Ewout Frankema’ project “African Trade in Historical Perspective: From the ‘Commercial Transition’ to the ‘Mineral Transition’ and Beyond”. For comments and suggestions please contact Felix Meier zu Selhausen ([email protected])