Latin America, Africa, and Asia: Independence, Foreign Capital, and Colonialism
Latin America: Independence and Foreign Capital
Witnessing a process of independence and economic takeoff, guaranteed by the consolidation of the political context of independence from Spain.
Economic Independence
Political groups were interested in maintaining the political structure – economic, because thanks to the economic dependence obtained significant benefits. This dependence could be a product of imperialism, not colonial. We can analyze the economics of the process more clearly.
Production
Generally, it was in the hands of local elites. This region underwent a process of specialization in the export of agricultural and mining products, tropical products in Central America.
This specialization brings a shortage of supply because production depends on external demand. The output of most products depends on the same income elasticity in the foreign market. Example: sugar in Cuba and Brazil had an elastic demand. Replacing it with sugar beet caused a decrease in demand.
They share a spread to other countries. The control is in the hands of the oligarchy (large landowners), who also control political power. They ensure this through a system of inheritance or intermarriage, often using primogeniture to avoid division. The rest of the families enter the army or clergy. This means that in this society there are no intermediate layers; there is a bourgeoisie that usually ends up absorbed by the oligarchy.
Production is primarily based on the extensification (extensive farming) of the property, even more so when the revolution of transport on the entire railroad made possible the incorporation of the interior region into the export sector.
Deteriorating living conditions of these populations, farmers, and miners were subjected to practices that could equate to feudalism. A practice based on this control was to maintain low wages to have a more competitive price for export, thus cheapening labor.
The Possession of Capital
Remained in the hands of a few. In some countries (Argentina, for example), these funds were allocated to other productive options to facilitate the initiation of an industrial process related mainly to agribusiness (farming and processing of livestock and fisheries) or in textile production. This allowed the beginning of a process of import substitution in the early years of WWI.
A process of economic dependence derived from the distribution was generated. They depended not only on competitive resources but also on the channels of access to those products. This is where the presence of foreign capital, particularly British, appears, which put up land and maritime infrastructure.
This is mainly due to the tax system, as this was a system that dominated the direct tax, so it was to avoid paying high taxes.
Finances: Investment and Marketing of Goods
These countries increased their income, resulting in the creation of a banking system. These were national entities (the resources of the local oligarchy) and foreign (import of capital).
The analysis shows that there was a process of specialization of banks depending on the origin of its shareholders (capital). Banks with a majority of foreign capital funding were aimed at operations related to marketing and supply, while local capital was used for the purchase of public debt and to finance export agriculture.
/ 7.3 Africa and Asia
Causes:
The situation is different because the world, in general, was late with few political structures similar to that of Europe. From the 1880s, the nineteenth century began a process of colonial expansion led by Britain and France, while the rest just had a presence or maintained with difficulty remaining remnants of colonial rule. On the other hand, we have countries like Russia or the USA, whose colonial expansion process was done within what is now its own borders. Therefore, we must ask what explains this expansion led by Colonial Britain and France. The causes have to do with its economic and political course.
Political Causes
In the European context, there was a rise of nationalism and militarism, in short, a growing political instability in the countries of Europe. The expansion was due to the political need to avoid certain areas falling under the influence of the enemy.
Economic Causes
The need for many of these countries to dispose of their own products (surplus) arising from economic depression and access to raw materials.
Types of Settlement
1) In Form Function: According to these, we may speak of colonial times when we find that the conquered territory is part of the governance of the metropolis, suppressing the native. At other times, the form is the Protectorate, where the Indian government system is respected, limiting the metropolis to exercise authority over the territory. Open Door, in which the conquered territory enjoys political autonomy in all matters relating to internal affairs, while foreign policy, in particular, is subject to commercial agreements with the colonial power.
2) In Role of Geographic Position: In some specific systems, relationships are established between the conquered territory and the mainland. According to the hierarchy, there should be a gradual increase in autonomy from the mainland, such as the case of South Africa. In other cases, they are called Address colonies, which refers to those regions that have contact with the mainland territory and end up integrated into the economic and political structure of the same, as was the case of the USA and the Asian part of Russia.
3) Depending on the Demographic Component: Those areas that were sparsely populated facilitated the establishment of a constitutional framework metropolitan, and in densely populated areas, the maintenance of pre-existing structures.
Consequences of the Process
“Generally negative”.
For the Metropolis
Were mostly positive for individuals, while for the public sector, they tended to be negative since the maintenance of colonial rule meant an increase in military spending and ocean, which were rarely offset by the income.
For the Colonies
Were dramatic and involved the theft of indigenous people, reduced levels of consumption, and an increasing degree of proletarianization of these populations.
The cause of the structural imbalances is given by the need to reduce shipping costs, so they brought back the primary consumer products since the land was focused on production for export.
- Dismantling of local industries by the collapse or destruction of it. This destruction leads to self-production. Both primary products they brought from the mainland were not out. Local companies lay off workers, and those protesting against the government for independence.
- For the colony, it meant an increase in direct taxation to cover the costs of administration and the army, a population increase as a result of immigration processes, and further accentuated by the effects of health improvements that resulted in a late population explosion, which was intended to ensure the supply of labor and the cheaper the cost of it.