Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1851093 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 258 pages

Synopsis
How Indigenous South Africans were Transformed into Disposessed Wage Slaves; Historians have traditionally focused on three points when searching for a key explanatory factor to interpret the motivation behind British expansionism in southern Africa: the strategic imperative of controlling southern Africa; the forward momentum of capitalist exploitation; and the initiative of local politicians in provoking expansion and conquest. While a combination of these factors were clearly essential, this book contends that one of the primary motivations of British colonialism in the sub-continent at the end of the 19th century was to create a cheap, readily available supply of African labour to serve the budding mineral industry. Working hand in hand, British officialdom in London and Capetown did everything in its power, through conquest, dispossession, taxation and the creation of native reserves or locations, to reduce southern Africa's indigenous population to wage earners dependent on Europeans for their survival. In doing so, they laid the foundation for apartheid in the 20th century.