Colonial Economies Economies based on Raw materials and

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 in 1923 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-3 rd 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.