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Colonial Economies. Economies based on Raw materials and need for markets. Self-supporting and self –sustaining e.g. “Colonial Pact” Colonies must buy goods from the imperial country. Goal was to exploit the colonies.
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Colonial Economies • Economies based on • Raw materials and need for markets. • Self-supporting and self –sustaining e.g. “Colonial Pact” • Colonies must buy goods from the imperial country. • Goal was to exploit the colonies. • Infrastructure- Roads, railways and harbors were built all over Africa , • From the interior to the coast to transport resources out of Africa.
Infrastructure • Kenya- Uganda railway in East Africa-1901 tea and coffee • Accra-Kumasi railway built in1923 transported gold from Ghana • Lagos line Nigeria 1926 transported palm Oil ,line from Port Harcourt. Sekondi line built by the British in Ashante Kingdom to the gold district of Kumasi . St louis –Dakar line Senegal, Abidjan line 1903 and Contonou line 1900 By 1913 export of gold from Ghana alone to Britain was worth 1,656,000 pounds
Minerals • Africa had huge deposits of minerals that were thoroughly exploited e.g. • Gold in Ghana, Sofala, Kenya South Africa. • Diamonds -South Africa • Copper & Bronze- Congo • Manganese & bauxite –Ghana. • Iron ore- Sierra Leone. • Tin - Nigeria
Raw materials • Groundnuts- Senegal & Gambia • Coffee& bananas-Ivory Coast and Uganda. • Cocoa- Ghana still the worlds largest producer today. • Rubber –Liberia and Congo. • Tea –Uganda and Kenya-3rd Largest World Producer. • Palm oil& cotton Nigeria • The colonial system instituted monoculture at the expense of food crops e.g. emphasized cash crop production
Trade. • There was unequal trade between the imperial powers and the periphery or satellite states. • The powers controlled the market and fixed prices. • Forced the satellite states to sell to the imperial powers. • Trade was unfair- Africans were forced to buy high manufactured European goods such as cotton clothes and sell their products cheaply. • Entrance of big marketing firms which monopolized trade and pushed Africans out of business.
Mining • A very important industry that colonial rule exploited. • There was large scale mining of coal, gold, iron, manganese, bauxite, platinum, diamonds, etc • Mining industry was monopolized by the De Beers –South Africa and the Consolidated African Selection Trust (CAST) of West Africa. • Mining was established by foreign capital and profits repatriated to the Metropole.
Taxation • Direct and indirect taxation was introduced to the colonies, • Indirect placed on tariffs on imported and consumer goods. • Direct taxation such as poll tax and hut tax on houses. • French also had the labor tax or the Covee, • Labor was also exploited. French, Germans Belgium and Portuguese practiced forced labor.
Land • African land was alienated such as the White Highlands in Kenya, Land in Rhodesia, South Africa etc. • Fertile land was taken away from Africans.