How would you describe the colonial economy?
Colonial economy was about all activities that ensured continued
supply of raw materials and profit gaining from the colonies
mushrooming industries. Colonial economy involved agriculture,
mining, trade, infrastructures, fishing and transport. To maximize
the profit and to be ensured that they succeed their mission in
agriculture, colonialist introduced new things to improve the
production. These include settler economy, plantation economy,
peasant economy, migrant labour and cash crop production. They
decided to maintain peasant to get more profit. They introduced
cash crops because raw materials were need in their industries.
Cash crops introduced were sisal, rubber, coffee, tea and cotton.
To ensure continued supply of raw material to their mushrooming
industries in Europe, they opened plantations and estates in
Zanzibar and some parts in Tanganyika. The grown cash crops
included sisal, clove plantation, coconuts and cashewnuts. Settler
economy was rampant in all areas where the soil was fertile and
good climate to stay. They established settlements in in Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. Also in East Africa they settled
in highland regions like Kilimanjaro, Iringa and Mbeya. They
established infrastructures from the port to the interior where
agriculture and mining activities were taking place. The building
of Mombasa to Uganda railway and Dar es Salaam to Kigoma is a good
example. In South African they exploited gold and diamond from
Kimberley and Transvaal. Irrigation activities took place along the
Nile River. Money economy was introduced to maximize profit and
also to utilize effectively migrant labour who were selling their
labour forces in plantations and estates. Taxation and land
alienation was introduced to exploit African and the same time to
force them comply with colonialists needs. In order to get money
African were supported to sell their work forced in plantations and
estates. Migrant labour was preferred because of less resistance.
Migrant labour were taken from far away and they were very few in
number hence it rendered them very difficult to organize themselves
and form strikes.