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Colonial Economy and Society: - economics - identities - settlers

Explore the post-WWI world focusing on colonialism through economic lenses, navigating the extraction, transportation, and exploitation of wealth in colonies. Discover the impact on local populations, labor practices, and economic dependencies.

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Colonial Economy and Society: - economics - identities - settlers

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  1. Colonial Economyand Society:- economics- identities- settlers January 30 – February 3

  2. Colonialism I: Economies “We are landlords of a great estate; it is the duty of the landlord to develop his estate.” • (Joseph Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, Birmingham, 1 April 1895)

  3. Colonialism I: Economies Post WWI World: European countries focusing on material wealth: - where to find it - how to extract it - how to profit from it Joseph Chamberlain put it bluntly: colonialism was like ‘developing a private estate’

  4. Colonialism I: Economies [H.F. War & J.W. Milligan,Handbook of British East Africa, 1912, xxiii]

  5. Colonialism I: Economies Colonial Economies in Images

  6. Colonialism I: Economies • commoditiesand workers! These stamps identify colonies by their exploitable wealth – commoditiesand workers!

  7. Colonialism I: Economies This French Posteris Captioned:“Le Porteur”.[the carrier…]

  8. Colonialism I: Economies Structures put in place to extract and transport wealth -- and to pay for both. Role of government: - collect taxes - convince workers to produce wealth Systems imposed to do both characterized Colonialism everywhere in Africa.

  9. Colonialism I: Economies Major limitation: - transportation – or rather the lack of it - where possible, steamships exploited possibilities of major rivers

  10. Colonialism I: Economies • Empress, modernsternwheeler (British East Africa 1921) Lady Nyasa, first steamship onZambezi, Shire Rivers(British East Africa 1890-1900) Empress, modernsternwheeler (British East Africa 1921)

  11. Colonialism I: Economies Even where river travel was possible, parts often had to be carried overland to avoid rapids and other obstacles. This required African labour.

  12. Colonialism I: Economies As in19th c., most goods moved overland by “porterage” (“safaris” or caravans with many porters to carry the goods).

  13. Colonialism I: Economies Shona women and children transporting grain near Great Zimbabwe, circa 1920.

  14. Colonialism I: Economies African Carriers Receiving Loads (West Africa)

  15. Colonialism I: Economies • Presence or Absence of Europeans • West Africa: • - Agriculture, land, remained in hands of Africans • (Few exceptions eg. Cote d’Ivoire, some plantation agriculture) - Europeans in coastal cities, transport, banking, import-export companies: African merchants usually shut out

  16. Colonialism I: Economies - some African peasants benefitted - some indigenous elites profited - many became workers or migrants.New economy re-shaped, exacerbated ethnic affinities, class divisions and regional strengths/weaknesses.

  17. Colonialism I: Economies Initially, produce was extracted ‘in kind’, eg. cotton in French West Africa

  18. Colonialism I: Economies - as costs of colonial administration, infrastructure rose (especially interwar years) ‘tax’ took two forms: - Money - Labour

  19. Colonialism I: Economies - To earn money, people forced to work as labourers in new ‘cash economy’. - To build infrastructure (roads, railroads, ports), Africans forced to labour for little or no pay.

  20. Colonialism I: Economies Much African wealth lay in agriculture: - Cotton (West, East, Portuguese Mozambique) - Peanuts (West – French Soudan) - Rubber (West & central) - Cocoa (West Africa— Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Gold Coast)[see Reid, Map p. 195]

  21. Colonialism I: Economies - Coffee (East) - Sisal (East) - Sugar (Southern) - Grapes/Citrus Fruits (North, South) - Tobacco (East/Southern) - Grains (West, East, South, Central, North)

  22. Colonialism I: Economies The Vizara Rubber Estate, 1921

  23. Colonialism I: Economies ‘Natives’ Ginning Cotton on European Estate

  24. Colonialism I: Economies “Natives” Taking Tobacco from Curing Barn on European Estate

  25. Colonialism I: Economies Sisal Plantation (East Africa c. 1912

  26. Colonialism I: Economies “Cash Crops”: not for local consumption, intended for national or export market • - needed chemical ‘inputs’ (e.g. fertilizers) • - needed transport to market - needed a market/markets - needed land (same land used repeatedly) - needed labour (low-paid labour)

  27. Colonialism I: Economies ‘Cash cropping: advantageous in short term, less so in long term: - as more village land, family labour invested in cash crops, less went to producing food/food crops - often led to food shortages - less local, regional food subsistence

  28. Colonialism I: Economies Dependency: - Fewer locally produced crops led to growing dependency on imported food - ‘dependence’ meant need for more cash to purchase food

  29. Colonialism I: Economies Dependency:- sale of cash crops provided money to buy imported food. So… - Created vulnerability to import fluctuations and price variability - Vicious circle set in place involving basic necessities.

  30. Colonialism I: Economies For example, sisal production in East Africa: Main market in 19th century: twine for farmers in Europe and North AmericaAfter introduction of sisal production in Tanganyika, market dried up as cheaper alternatives became available

  31. Colonialism I: Economies Land used intensively: - often became exhausted: crops decline in productivity, quality - Expensive fertilizers needed – but cannot be afforded • - necessitates expansion of land put under cultivation to produce same crop quantity

  32. Colonialism I: Economies Expanding cash crops:- often exceeded local labour supply • - led to “migrant labour”: workers moving from ‘poorer’ regions to ‘richer’ ones needing labour Created ‘migrant labour systems’ in various parts of continent – many remain today

  33. Colonialism I: Economies - assisted some regions: coastal West African agriculture, South African, Rhodesia mining, East African plantations … • - worsened conditions in poorer regions: West African Sahel (interior), regions/colonies surrounding South Africa …

  34. Colonialism I: Economies - Migrant Labour as ‘colonial system’: created ‘labour reserves’ (areas Migrants came from) throughout continent Exacerbated Existing Regional Economic Disparities . . . Created new ones – with lasting legacies (still visible today)

  35. Colonialism I: Economies Mineral deposits barely tapped: - gold (West , South) - diamonds (West, Central, South) - copper (Central, East) - tin (West) - phosphates (Sahara) - coal (West)

  36. Colonialism I: Economies - All required infrastructure and labour - Most required significant capital investment [see Reid, Map p.203]

  37. Colonialism I: Economies Underground work:dangerous andunhealthy. Ratio: one Europeanto twelveAfricans (photo 1940s)

  38. Colonialism I: Economies Migrant workers were required to live in compounds or barracks that they shared with dozens of other miners. They slept on concrete slabs stacked around the room.

  39. Colonialism I: Economies Issue: how to make Africans into workers? Nomadic peoples: - Saharan camel, cattle herders - East, Southern Africa cattle herders - forced to become sedentary: process of ‘sedentarization’

  40. Colonialism I: Economies Slavery remained key ‘labour’ issue: - slaves main labour force supporting local economies - most workers recruited by colonial forces were still slaves (or recently ‘freed slaves’, still dependents): “blind-eye” policy

  41. Colonialism I: Economies “Village de liberté”

  42. Colonialism I: Economies Colonialism offered new opportunities: - army troops (remember Rashid bin Hassani…) - urban domestic labour: food preparation, laundry, prostitution

  43. Colonialism I: Economies Cooking morning meal for labourers forced intoEuropean town for work (South Africa).

  44. Colonialism I: Economies Colonialism offered new opportunities: - wage labour in mines/on plantations (even if some portion returned to ‘masters’ or ‘chiefs’) - sale of skills formerly belonging to masters (e.g. weavers, dyers, bakers, seamstresses, brick-makers …)

  45. Colonialism I: Economies Female Cotton Workers/Spinners (Segu West Africa c.1930)

  46. Colonialism I: Economies Questions Inherent in Colonial Economies : - Was ‘forced labour’ (whether for taxes or infrastructure building) slavery in disguise? - Did colonialism entrench traditional forms of exploitation that worsened under the weight/demands of Colonial Economies? - Was solving ‘the labour problem’ and adhering to the rhetoric of ‘freedom and equality for all’ (not to mention the ‘White Man’s Burden’) an inherent contradiction of colonialism?

  47. Colonialism I: Economies To be cont: Colonialism II: Identities

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