XXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The First World War disrupted African economies through falling primary-product prices, rising import costs, the exclusion of German traders, labour shortages, requisitions, compulsory cultivation, and increased state intervention. Conditions later diverged as demand for strategic commodities produced a wartime boom, while controlled prices and shortages continued to burden producers and wage earners. The war also encouraged import substitution and infrastructure development in selected regions.
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Le récit
The declaration of war caused a major disturbance in African trade and production. Prices paid for many primary products fell, while imported goods became more expensive and increasingly scarce. Uganda experienced an overnight 50 percent increase in import prices, and the exclusion of German merchants radically altered commercial relationships throughout the continent.
Germany had been a major overseas trading partner for tropical Africa, but Allied naval control and the occupation of German colonies largely removed German nationals and enterprises from African commerce. Their plantations, commercial houses, and industries were taken over by occupying powers. In the Gambia, Britain replaced France as the main buyer of groundnuts, increasing its share of the crop from 4 percent in 1912 to 48 percent in 1916.
The initial depression was followed by increased demand for products needed by the Allied war effort, including Egyptian cotton. Yet producers did not always benefit because colonial governments controlled prices, requisitioned food, and directed labour and shipping. In Egypt, inflation and the requisition of cereals and animals placed severe pressure on peasants, while in French West Africa demands for troops conflicted with the production of food crops.
Wartime shortages also produced longer-term changes. Labour recruitment depleted workforces, while the absence of imports encouraged import-substitution industries in South Africa, the Belgian Congo, and German East Africa. Military transport stimulated roads and ports, including facilities associated with East Africa, Mombasa, Bizerta, Port Harcourt, and Dakar, although public works elsewhere were suspended.
XXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The First World War disrupted African economies through falling primary-product prices, rising import costs, the exclusion of German traders, labour shortages, requisitions, compulsory cultivation, and increased state intervention. Conditions later diverged as demand for strategic commodities produced a wartime boom, while controlled prices and shortages continued to burden producers and wage earners. The war also encouraged import substitution and infrastructure development in selected regions.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
The declaration of war caused a major disturbance in African trade and production. Prices paid for many primary products fell, while imported goods became more expensive and increasingly scarce. Uganda experienced an overnight 50 percent increase in import prices, and the exclusion of German merchants radically altered commercial relationships throughout the continent.
Germany had been a major overseas trading partner for tropical Africa, but Allied naval control and the occupation of German colonies largely removed German nationals and enterprises from African commerce. Their plantations, commercial houses, and industries were taken over by occupying powers. In the Gambia, Britain replaced France as the main buyer of groundnuts, increasing its share of the crop from 4 percent in 1912 to 48 percent in 1916.
The initial depression was followed by increased demand for products needed by the Allied war effort, including Egyptian cotton. Yet producers did not always benefit because colonial governments controlled prices, requisitioned food, and directed labour and shipping. In Egypt, inflation and the requisition of cereals and animals placed severe pressure on peasants, while in French West Africa demands for troops conflicted with the production of food crops.
Wartime shortages also produced longer-term changes. Labour recruitment depleted workforces, while the absence of imports encouraged import-substitution industries in South Africa, the Belgian Congo, and German East Africa. Military transport stimulated roads and ports, including facilities associated with East Africa, Mombasa, Bizerta, Port Harcourt, and Dakar, although public works elsewhere were suspended.