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

314 Pages·2020·3.902 MB·English

by  Simon Mollan

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
Imperialism and
Economic Development in
Sub-Saharan Africa
An Economic and Business
History of Sudan
Simon Mollan
Palgrave Studies in Economic History
Series Editor
Kent Deng
London School of Economics
London, UK
Palgrave Studies in Economic History is designed to illuminate and
enrich our understanding of economies and economic phenomena of the
past. The series covers a vast range of topics including financial history,
labour history, development economics, commercialisation, urbanisa-
tion, industrialisation, modernisation, globalisation, and changes in
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More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14632
Simon Mollan
Imperialism
and Economic
Development in
Sub- Saharan Africa
An Economic and Business History
of Sudan
Simon Mollan
University of York
York, UK
ISSN 2662-6497 ISSN 2662-6500 (electronic)
Palgrave Studies in Economic History
ISBN 978-3-030-27635-5 ISBN 978-3-030-27636-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27636-2
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
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This book is dedicated to the memory of Annette René Mollan,
and John and Sheila Wade.
Summary of Book
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 colo-
nial Sudan to 1956 and then the post-colonial economic legacy of impe-
rialism into the 1970s.
This text highlights how state-centred economic activity was devel-
oped 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.
vii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following people for helping shape my aca-
demic understanding of history, business and economy, and for collegial
support and friendship. Thanks to Erik Benson, Alex Bentley, Mark
Billings, Emily Buchnea, Anna Clarkson, Stephanie Decker, Rodrigo
Dominguez, Gabie Durepos, Roy Edwards, Chris Elias, Jari Eloranta,
Neil Forbes, Ralf Futselaar, Bill Foster, Billy Frank, Juan Gallindo, Rick
Garside, Beverly Geesin, Dan Giedeman, Vincent Geloso, Chris Hall,
Jean Helms-Mills, Jan-Otmar Hesse, Jane Hogan, Dave Kelsey, Joe Lane,
Mitch Larson, Olly Lendrum, Cherry Leonardi, Alan McKinlay, Craig
McMahon, Garance Marechal, David Meredith, Ranald Michie, Rory
Miller, Albert Mills, Peter Miskell, Matthew Mitchell, John Moore, Tony
Moore, Don Morrison, Erin O’Brien, Andrew Popp, Michael Prestwich,
Chris Prior, Richard Reid, Kristine Saevold, John Singleton, Andrew
Smith, David Smith, Jack Southern, Jason Taylor, Tom Tomlinson, Olli
Turunen, Nicky Tynan, Chris Vaughan, Phillip Williamson, Nick White,
Justin Willis, John Wilson, Nick Wong, and Bob Wright.
A special thanks to my colleagues at the University of York, both past
and present: Kiev Ariza Garcia, Neveen Abdelrehim, Sue Bowden, Tim
Chapman, Bill Cooke, Chris Corker, Bob Doherty, Matthew Hollow,
Beatrice D’Ippolito, Jon Fanning, James Fowler, Philip Garnett, Alex
Gillett, Yoo-Jung Ha, Shane Hamilton, David Higgins, Arun Kumar,
ix
x Acknowledgements
Philip Linsley, Steve Linstead, Jo Maltby, Leo McCann, Daniel Muzio,
Katherine Newling, Linda Perriton, John Quail, Bharati Singh, Ayumu
Sugawara, Simon Sweeney, Kevin Tennent, Jacco Thijssen, and Shradda
Verma. Thanks also to Kent Deng, Ruth Noble and Laura Pacey at
Palgrave.
I finished this book while on sabbatical as a visiting fellow at the Duke
University Center for International and Global Studies in the Spring and
Summer of 2019. I am especially grateful to Giovanni Zanalda, and also
to all those who made my time in North Carolina fruitful and hospitable,
especially Erin Dillard, Amanda Frederick, Melissa Neeley and Jon
Cogliano. And, of course, a special debt is owed to my friends and family.
Thank you.
This book is dedicated to the memory of Annette René Mollan, and
John and Sheila Wade. They were instrumental in encouraging my inter-
est in history and the practice of historical research.
Carrboro, NC, and York, UK Simon Mollan
June–July 2019
Contents
1 Introduction 1
Part I Foundations of Imperialism in Sudan 19
2 British Business and Sudan During the Mahdiya 21
3 The Beginnings of Imperial Development, 1899–1919 51
Part II Business and Imperialism in Sudan 81
4 The Sudan Plantations Syndicate, 1904–1919 83
5 The Sudan Plantations Syndicate, 1919–1939 107
Part III T he Political-Economy of Imperialism in Sudan 143
6 The Economy of Sudan, 1919–1939 145
xi