Shyaam was the king of the Kuba Kingdom in the Congo during the 17th century. While he built highly extractive institutions, Acemoglu and Robinson credit these institutions with creating state centralization and generating modest economic growth. As a result, the Bushong people, who now live in the Kuba Kingdom’s former territory, have a much more politically and technologically advanced society compared to similar groups in the region.
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Shyaam Character Timeline in Why Nations Fail
The timeline below shows where the character Shyaam appears in Why Nations Fail. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5: “I’ve Seen the Future, and It Works”: Growth Under Extractive Institutions
...reason for this inequality is that, in the 1600s in present-day Bushong territory, the king Shyaam created the absolutist, extractive Kuba Kingdom. Shyaam imposed new farming techniques that doubled food production,...
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...surplus from the masses who create it. This process often creates powerful centralized institutions, like Shyaam’s kingdom and the first settlements of the Neolithic Revolution. But extractive institutions don’t incentivize innovation...
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