20th century
Africa
European colonial rule encompassed the vast majority of Africa’s inhabitants in 1940. British, French, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian authorities governed most territories, while Liberia, Egypt, and the Union of South Africa possessed varying degrees of nominal independence. Colonial administrations relied on limited personnel, coercion, taxation, forced labour, and export-oriented infrastructure while integrating African economies into European capitalism.
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The Story
In 1940, the vast majority of Africa’s inhabitants lived under one form or another of European colonial rule. The extract distinguishes three nominally independent countries: Liberia, which was economically subordinated to the Firestone Rubber Company of the United States; Egypt, whose sovereignty was severely limited by the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936; and the Union of South Africa, where political independence primarily served a white minority while the rights of the non-white majority were being reduced.
Colonial authority was extensive but often thin on the ground. In Nigeria, a population estimated at twenty million was governed in the late 1930s by only 386 administrators, while the Belgian Congo and French West Africa had similarly low ratios of administrators to inhabitants. In Mozambique, some territories were administered not by government officials but by concessionary companies, revealing the importance of private commercial power within colonial rule.
By 1939, colonial economies had been remodelled to produce foodstuffs and raw materials for metropolitan and related economies, while serving as markets for European manufactured goods. Railways and roads mainly linked mines or export-crop regions to the coast rather than connecting African centres of internal production. Taxation, forced labour, compulsory cultivation, and colonial budgets supported this extractive infrastructure and helped incorporate Africa into the European capitalist system.
20th century
Africa
European colonial rule encompassed the vast majority of Africa’s inhabitants in 1940. British, French, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian authorities governed most territories, while Liberia, Egypt, and the Union of South Africa possessed varying degrees of nominal independence. Colonial administrations relied on limited personnel, coercion, taxation, forced labour, and export-oriented infrastructure while integrating African economies into European capitalism.
Continue exploring
The Story
In 1940, the vast majority of Africa’s inhabitants lived under one form or another of European colonial rule. The extract distinguishes three nominally independent countries: Liberia, which was economically subordinated to the Firestone Rubber Company of the United States; Egypt, whose sovereignty was severely limited by the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936; and the Union of South Africa, where political independence primarily served a white minority while the rights of the non-white majority were being reduced.
Colonial authority was extensive but often thin on the ground. In Nigeria, a population estimated at twenty million was governed in the late 1930s by only 386 administrators, while the Belgian Congo and French West Africa had similarly low ratios of administrators to inhabitants. In Mozambique, some territories were administered not by government officials but by concessionary companies, revealing the importance of private commercial power within colonial rule.
By 1939, colonial economies had been remodelled to produce foodstuffs and raw materials for metropolitan and related economies, while serving as markets for European manufactured goods. Railways and roads mainly linked mines or export-crop regions to the coast rather than connecting African centres of internal production. Taxation, forced labour, compulsory cultivation, and colonial budgets supported this extractive infrastructure and helped incorporate Africa into the European capitalist system.