Transcript The Consequences of Colonialism

The Consequences of
Colonialism
The Impact on Land and
Land Use
Ethnic Composition
• Large parts of Africa were wrecked
and depopulated by slavery. The
Slaves moved to the Caribbean and
South America. (Corn moved to Africa
to feed them.)
• There were other large movements of
people: European Settlers, Indentured
labor (Indians in East Africa, in the Fiji
Islands), Depopulation (Caribbean
and Latin America).
The Commoditization of
Agriculture
• Because of taxes, or the law, people
had to grow new crops that were
entirely for export.
• At the same time, they had to grow
their own food too, so they were
between two worlds.
• Very little of the value of this extra
labor went to the grower. In some
places, farmers became laborers.
Indoctrination of New Values
• The old ideas were discredited as
“tradition,” folklore, primitive etc.
• The local people associated the new
ideas with a stronger, superior culture,
and so they lost their traditions, their
religions and their identity.
Neglect of Food Crops
• Unless the local food crops had some
commercial value, which was not often,
then all the attention of the Europeans went
into commercial crops.
• These were mainly luxuries with almost no
food value, such as tea, coffee, vanilla,
cotton, peanuts, cocoa, rubber and tropical
oils.
• This neglect of subsistence crops, particularly
in Africa, was going to create huge
The Nature of Trade
• Tropical exports mostly unprocessed
natural products.
• Imports mostly high-value
manufactured goods and services, as
well as entertainment and fuel.
• “Terms of Trade” have worked against
the Tropics in general. Much of
“Development” has a large import
component.
The Low Profile of Agriculture
• Agricultural exports were the cash cow
of poor-country governments
• The benefits of this trade flowed back
mostly into the elites and the cities,
leaving agriculture under-capitalized,
without incentives, and neglected.
• This encouraged a flood of people
from the land into the cities, where
there was no work
The Divided World
• The process of the Colonial economy,
over such a long period of time, built
up huge advantages for the European
countries. This created the “Rich” and
“Poor” world.
• These advantages tend to perpetuate
themselves structurally and
institutionally.