Helena Osei-Egyir PhD Candidate

This dissertation contributes to African Environmental History by examining the cocoa trade within the British Empire through a global lens. The study spans three regions connected by the Atlantic: Asante in Ghana, where cocoa beans are produced; London, where the beans are processed into chocolate; and Saskatchewan, where the chocolate is consumed. The project begins in Ghana’s High Forest region where cocoa cultivation was introduced into Asante by migrant Akuapem farmers in the early 1900s. This sparked a boom in the industry, establishing the Gold Coast as a leading global producer of cocoa. In Asante, cocoa became known as the ‘golden pod’, generating lucrative returns that reshaped local economies and landscapes. Across the Atlantic, in London, cocoa beans became a vital trade commodity. Factories there converted the beans into chocolate, maintaining close communication with colonial authorities in the Gold Coast to ensure quality of the bean. This transformation of raw cocoa into chocolate represents a key link in the global supply chain, adding value to the commodity and preparing it for consumers. The story culminates in Saskatchewan, which during the same decades, emerged as a leading producer of wheat while simultaneously developing a taste for chocolate. The arrival of chocolate in this Canadian province demonstrates the far-reaching impact of colonial trade networks and changing consumer preferences where people worked diligently to afford this novel treat, illustrating how global trade influenced local economic behaviours and cultural practices. This project thus becomes a melting pot of interactions within the British Empire, highlighting the relationship between agriculture, commodity trade and environmental changes such as deforestation and land use transformation and also offering broader perspectives into colonialism, globalization and environmental change.

• Jir405@usask.ca