Feeding and Fleecing the Native: How the Nyasaland Transport System Distorted a New Food Market, 1890s–1920s

Mandala, Elias

doi:10.1080/03057070600830474

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus while the southern part of Mozambique had the characteristic features of a labour reserve economy, the central part was much more akin to the Africa of concessions (Hinderink and Sterkenburg 1987). In Malawi there was similar ambiguity, as settler agriculture relied on indigenous labour for its cash crop production and peasant farming for 'wage food' (Mandala 2006).…”

Section: Taxation In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

On Tax Efforts and Colonial Heritage in Africa

Mkandawire

2010

Journal of Development Studies

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One commonly observed phenomena about taxation in Africa are regional differences and the fact that southern African countries have higher levels of shares of taxation in GDP. This article argues that the major source of differences in 'tax effort' is the colonial histories of various countries. Using standard measures of 'tax effort in a panel data framework and dividing colonial Africa along forms of incorporation into the colonial system, it shows that African countries and others with similar colonial histories have higher levels of 'tax effort'. However, the difference disappears when we control for the colonial factor. These results hold under different model specifications.

show abstract

Section: Taxation In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

On Tax Efforts and Colonial Heritage in Africa

Mkandawire

2010

Journal of Development Studies

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

From Heroic Exploration to Careful Control: Mobility, Health, and Medicine in the British African Empire

Hokkanen

2023

Medicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nineteenth-century explorers epitomised, in their public image, heroic, energetic, and enduring Victorian masculinity. The demands of mobility in challenging conditions and facing high risks to health were central to this image. This was particularly the case in tropical Africa. Among many mid- to late Victorians there was a common idea that keeping active and on the move in tropical conditions was healthy and that conversely immobility or slowness could be perilous. However, as the exploration of the African interior gave way to conquest and colonisation, ideas advocated for controlled, disciplined, and careful mobility gained ground. Although the image of the enduring, risk-taking mobile explorer persisted, it gradually gave way to depictions of more careful, controlled colonisers. Markku Hokkanen’s chapter analyses the changing relations between mobility, health and medicine in the contexts of British exploration and early settlement in tropical Africa in images, theories, and practices. Authors studied include David Livingstone, Horace Waller, and John Buchanan on South-Central Africa, and Mary Kingsley on West Africa.

show abstract

WAS THE WAGE BURDEN TOO HEAVY? SETTLER FARMING, PROFITABILITY, AND WAGE SHARES OF SETTLER AGRICULTURE IN NYASALAND, c. 1900–60

Bolt¹,

Green

2015

J. Afr. Hist.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The historical role of European farming in Southern and Central Africa has received a great deal of attention among scholars over the years. A striking consensus exists in the Scholarly literature, namely that the success or failure of European farming in Southern Africa was to a large extent dependent upon the colonizers' access to and control over cheap labour, which they in turn could only access through strong support of the colonial state. Yet, these propositions have so far not been systematically and empirically tested. This article is a first attempt to do that by analysing the 'wage-burden' European settler farmers faced. The wage-burden is identified by measuring wage shares (total amount paid in the form of wages as a share of total profits) on European farms in colonial Africa. Based on archival documents, we construct time-series for value of output, transportation costs, investments in agriculture, and wages paid for the European tobacco and tea sector in colonial Malawi. Our results contradict both previous research on settler colonialism in Africa and the historiography of Nyasaland. Our estimates show that settler farming did not collapse in the 1930s as commonly assumed. On the contrary, the value of production on both tobacco and tea farms increased significantly. And so did the settler farmers' capacity to capture the profits, which was manifested in a declining wage share over time. In contrast with previous research, we argue that the declining wage share cannot be explained by domestic colonial policies but rather through changes in regional migration patterns, and global commodity markets. Migration patterns had a significant impact on the supply of farm labour and global commodity markets influenced value of production. Market forces rather than colonial policies shaped the development trajectory of settler farming in Nyasaland.

show abstract

Feeding and Fleecing the Native: How the Nyasaland Transport System Distorted a New Food Market, 1890s–1920s

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

On Tax Efforts and Colonial Heritage in Africa

On Tax Efforts and Colonial Heritage in Africa

From Heroic Exploration to Careful Control: Mobility, Health, and Medicine in the British African Empire

WAS THE WAGE BURDEN TOO HEAVY? SETTLER FARMING, PROFITABILITY, AND WAGE SHARES OF SETTLER AGRICULTURE IN NYASALAND, c. 1900–60

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About