Imperialism and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa : An Economic and Business History of Sudan

This book examines the economic and business history of Sudan, placing Sudan into the wider context of the impact of imperialism on economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. From the 1870s onwards British interest(s) in Sudan began to intensify, a consequence of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the overseas expansion of British business activities associated with the Scramble for Africa and the renewal of imperial impulses in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mollan shows the gradual economic embrace of imperialism in the years before 1899; the impact of imperialism on the economic development of colonial Sudan to 1956; and then the post-colonial economic legacy of imperialism into the 1970s. This text highlights how state-centred economic activity was developed in cooperation with British international business. Founded on an economic model that was debt-driven, capital intensive, and cash-crop oriented–the colonial economy of Sudan was centred on cotton growing. This model locked Sudan into a particular developmental path that, in turn, contributed to the nature and timing of decolonization, and the consequent structures of dependency in the post-colonial era. Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Introduction (Simon Mollan)....Pages 1-17 Front Matter ....Pages 19-19 British Business and Sudan During the Mahdiya (Simon Mollan)....Pages 21-50 The Beginnings of Imperial Development, 1899–1919 (Simon Mollan)....Pages 51-80 Front Matter ....Pages 81-81 The Sudan Plantations Syndicate, 1904–1919 (Simon Mollan)....Pages 83-105 The Sudan Plantations Syndicate, 1919–1939 (Simon Mollan)....Pages 107-141 Front Matter ....Pages 143-143 The Economy of Sudan, 1919–1939 (Simon Mollan)....Pages 145-163 The Relationship Between Business and Government to 1945 (Simon Mollan)....Pages 165-200 War, Decolonization and After (Simon Mollan)....Pages 201-239 Front Matter ....Pages 241-241 Conclusion: Business, Imperialism and the Organization of Economic Development in Sudan (Simon Mollan)....Pages 243-266 Back Matter ....Pages 267-306