Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.7
Two Waves of Colonialism between
1500 and 1975.
Each bar shows the total
number of colonies around the world.
Adapted with permission from:
Peter J. Taylor and Colin
Flint,
Political Geography: World-Economy, Nation-State
and Locality,
4th ed., New York: Prentice Hall, 2000.
sixteenth century, Spain and Portugal took advantage of
an increasingly well-consolidated internal political order
and newfound wealth to expand their infl uence to increas-
ingly far-fl ung realms during the fi rst wave of colonial-
ism. Later joined by Britain, France, the Netherlands, and
Belgium, the fi rst wave of colonialism established a far-
reaching political and economic system. After indepen-
dence movements in the Americas during the late 1700s
and 1800s, a second wave of colonialism began in the late
1800s. The major colonizers were Britain, France, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. The coloniz-
ing parties met for the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885
and arbitrarily laid out the colonial map of Africa with-
out reference to indigenous cultural or political arrange-
ments. Driven by motives ranging from economic profi t
to the desire to bring Christianity to the rest of the world,
colonialism projected European power and a European
approach to organizing political space into the non-Euro-
pean world (Fig. 8.8).
With Europe in control of so much of the world,
Europeans laid the ground rules for the emerging inter-
national state system, and the modern European concept
of the nation-state became the model adopted around the
world. Europe also established and defi ned the ground
rules of the capitalist world economy, creating a system of
economic interdependence that persists today.
During the heyday of
colonialism
, the imperial pow-
ers exercised ruthless control over their domains and
organized them for maximum economic exploitation. The
capacity to install the infrastructure necessary for such
effi cient profi teering is itself evidence of the power rela-
tionships involved: entire populations were regimented
in the service of the colonial ruler. Colonizers organized
the fl ows of raw materials for their own benefi t, and we
can still see the tangible evidence of that organization
(plantations, ports, mines, and railroads) on the cultural
landscape.
Despite the end of colonialism, the political organi-
zation of space and the global world economy persist. And
while the former colonies are now independent states,
their economies are anything but independent. In many
cases raw material fl ows are as great as they were before
the colonial era came to an end. For example, today in
Gabon, Africa, the railroad goes from the interior forest,
which is logged for plywood, to the major port and capi-
tal city, Libreville. The second largest city, Port Gentil,
is located to the south of Libreville, but the two cities are
not connected directly by road or railroad. As the crow
fl ies, the cities are 90 miles apart, but if you drive from one
to the other, the circuitous route will take you 435 miles.
Both cities are export focused. Port Gentil is tied to the
global oil economy, with global oil corporations respon-
sible for building much of the city and its housing, and
employing many of its people.
Construction of the Capitalist World Economy
The long-term impacts of colonialism are many and var-
ied. One of the most powerful impacts of colonialism
was the construction of a global order characterized by
great differences in economic and political power. The
European colonial enterprise gave birth to a globalized
economic order in which the European states and areas
dominated by European migrants emerged as the major
centers of economic and political activity. Through
