Industrialization and Colonialism in 19th and 20th Centuries
Industrial Revolution in Peripheral Europe
A common feature among all these countries was their inability to reach a significant industrial level. A lower level of human capital was another common feature. A third feature was the absence of prior agrarian reform, which resulted in very low agricultural productivity. In the case of the Iberian Peninsula, low agricultural productivity was one of the biggest drags on the economy.
In the 1790s, a modern cotton industry developed in Catalonia, thanks to certain protective tariffs and the exclusive colonial markets of Cuba and Puerto Rico. It grew until 1900 when the colonies were lost. There were also some wine industries, but phylloxera swept through Spain in the last decades of the century with devastating effects.
Meanwhile, a new source of revenue was developing to replace the loss of the vineyards: the sale of metals and minerals. Spain had some mines, but they were of good quality and poorly located to be exploited profitably. Yet, in the last two decades of the 19th century, a small steel industry was established on the north coast, which gradually managed to gain ground on imports of iron, steel, tools, and machinery.
In Southeast Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century, the economy was basically agrarian. The technology was archaic, and productivity and income per capita were, therefore, very low. There were some coal deposits, but they were small and widely scattered. No country produced the amount of ore needed to meet its own demand. The most important mineral resource was oil, which several foreign firms, especially German, began to exploit in the last decade of the 19th century.
In contrast to the slow diffusion of both agricultural and industrial technology, institutional banking and loans quickly spread abroad. Corporations, banking, and other financial institutions were quickly born, but without connection to financing industry. The new governments asked for foreign borrowed capital, especially from France and Germany, to invest primarily in the construction of railways and other infrastructure costs. Unfortunately, the lack of complementary industry meant that the railways had few backward linkages.
In all countries, an indication of industrialization came more or less since 1895, focused on the consumer. However, it was nothing comparable to the advances experienced in Western Europe at the beginning of the century.
The Distribution of Africa
The new colonialist wave gained momentum from 1882. At the Berlin Conference of 1884 (division between European countries), Britain and France took the best parts. The countries furthest behind were Germany and Belgium. The old colonial powers (Spain and Portugal) barely kept their ancient empires (Cuba).
Belgium focused on the colonization of territories in the interior of Africa, and the Dutch turned their presence to Indonesia and the islands of Japan. In addition to incorporating the European countries, Russia and the U.S. became colonial powers.
Western Influence in Asia: Tradition vs. Progress
Causes of Imperialism
Economics:
- Search for new markets to introduce industrial products.
- Search for new sources of raw materials due to the exhaustion of domestic deposits.
Policies:
- Existence of sea lanes, vital points, and a certain rivalry between the powers themselves (clashes between Germany and France over Morocco).
Typology
According to the settlement formula, we can talk about:
- Settlements: Strictly speaking, the occupation of territory and the legal market replaces the territory occupied by the colonizing country (India and Equatorial Guinea).
- Protectorates: When a country takes custody of another theoretically independent country (Morocco).
- Open Regime: Political independence is respected except regarding past trade policy (China in different countries where they settled in their ports).
According to its geographical location:
- Outlying: These are far from the metropolis; the territorial authorities have some autonomy. It has a preferential agreement.
- At home: These are close to the metropolis; the adjoining metropolis spreads and terms are incorporated (Russia joins Mongolia, the U.S. westward expansion).
According to population density:
- Uninhabited: With few native inhabitants, it is easier to remove and replace them with the characteristics of the metropolitan area.
- Populous: More resistance imposes a dual restructuring. It allows people to continue their native customs, and on the other hand, the Europeans set up their own rules (India). Links are established based on ethnicity.
Economic Impact
For colonies:
- Population: There is a strong population increase due to the arrival of settlers and the growth of the birth rate derived from the improvements introduced by the settlers, with the interest of having more labor and reducing wage costs.
- Decrease in Indian property: The colonists took the most productive lands, and the Indians were thrown out. The main consequence of this process of encroachment is making the indigenous population consumers; employees are becoming, increasing their purchasing power.
- The decline of local industry: By way of competition or, in some cases, eliminating the local industry.
- Increasing the tax burden: To cover the costs of administration and the army.
For the mother country: Benefits to individuals and public deficit, since the maintenance of colonial rule meant an increase in military spending and the ocean, were rarely compensated with income.