ebook img

The Geography of Tropical African Development. A Study of Spatial Patterns of Economic Change Since Independence PDF

254 Pages·1978·17.476 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview The Geography of Tropical African Development. A Study of Spatial Patterns of Economic Change Since Independence

PERGAMON OXFORD GEOGRAPHY SERIES Editor: W. B. FISHER Other Titles in the Series CLARKE, J. I. Population Geography, 2nd Edition Population Geography and the Developing Countries CLOUT, H. D. Rural Geography A Geography of Post-war France COOKE, R. U. and JOHNSON, J. H. Trends in Geography: An Introductory Survey COPPOCK, J. T. Second Homes: Curse or Blessing? COPPOCK, J. T. and SEWELL, W. R. D. Spatial Dimensions of Public Policy DENNIS, R. and CLOUT, H. D. A Social Geography of England and Wales DEWDNEY, J. C. A Geography of the Soviet Union, 3rd edition JOHNSON, J. H. Urban Geography, 2nd edition KERR, A. J. C. The Common Market and How It Works MCINTOSH, I. G. and MARSHALL, C. B. The Face of Scotland, 3rd edition SUNDERLAND, E. Elements of Human and Social Geography: Some Anthropological Perspectives TREWARTHA, G. T. The More Developed Realm The Geography of Tropical African Development A Study of Spatial Patterns of Economic Change Since Independence by A. M. O'CONNOR Lecturer in Geography, University College, London SECOND EDITION PERGAMON PRESS OXFORD · NEW YORK · TORONTO · SYDNEY · PARIS · FRANKFURT U.K. Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 OBW, England U.S.A. Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523, U.S.A. CANADA Pergamon of Canada, Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 544, Potts Point, N.S.W. 2011, Australia FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus, OF GERMANY Hammerweg 6, Federal Republic of Germany Copyright © 1978 A. M. O'Connor All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers. First edition 1971 Reprinted with minor corrections 1973 Reprinted 1975, 1977 Second edition 1978 Reprinted 1981 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data O'Connor, Anthony Michael The geography of tropical African development. - 2nd ed. - (Pergamon Oxford geographies). 1. Africa - Economic conditions - 1945 - I. Title 330.9*67 HC502 77-30470 ISBN 0-08-021847-4 (hardcover) ISBN 0-08-021848-2 (flexicover) Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton & Co. Ltd., Exeter LIST OF MAPS General reference map facing page 1 1.1 Ecological zones 2 1.2 Distribution of population 5 1.3-1.6 Political units: 1956, 1959, 1961, 1965 10-11 1.7-1.10 Political units within Nigeria: 1960, 1963, 1967, 1976 15 1.11 Income levels, 1975 19 1.12 Energy consumption, 1974 20 2.1 Resettlement in the Kenya Highlands 31 2.2 Irrigation schemes in Sudan 35 2.3 Coffee production: 1955-7, 1973-5 41 2.4 Coffee and cocoa in Ghana and Ivory Coast: 1954, 1971 42 2.5 Coffee and cotton in East Africa: 1956, 1966 43 2.6 Cotton production: 1955-7, 1973-5 47 2.7 Sugar production: 1955-7, 1973-5 60 2.8 Change in total agricultural production: 1957-9 to 1973-5 63 4.1 Mineral development: 1956-7, 1974-5 77 4.2 Oil in Nigeria 80 4.3 Development on the Copperbelt 82 4.4 Iron mines, roads, and railways in Liberia 85 5.1 Textile mills 105 5.2 Cement factories 106 5.3 Employment in manufacturing, 1972 109 5.4 Industrial development in Nigeria, 1966 110 5.5 Industrial development in East Africa, 1972 114 6.1 Electricity generation: 1956, 1974 122 6.2 Major power stations, 123 6.3 Zambezi and Kafue power projects 124 vii List of Maps 6.4 Volta power project 127 6.5 Niger power project 129 7.1 Port of Mombasa 141 7.2 Port of Tema 142 7.3 Port of Abidjan 143 7.4 Five West African ports 143 7.5 Railways 149 7.6 Railways in north-central Africa 151 7.7 Railways in south-central Africa 152 7.8 Motor vehicles in use, 1972 156 7.9 Road construction in Ethiopia 157 7.10 Road construction in Nigeria 158 7.11 Road construction in Angola 159 7.12 Tarred roads 160 7.13 Internal air routes in Gabon 165 7.14 Air routes from Zambia to other African countries 166 8.1 Population of major towns 172 8.2 Administrative boundaries of Kampala 176 8.3 Physical growth of Dar es Salaam 179 8.4 Physical structure of Nairobi 185 9.1 Regional associations, 1961 201 9.2 Regional associations, 1976 202 10.1 National income, 1958 210 10.2 Increase in national income, 1958-75 211 10.3 Growth in real per capita income, 1958-75 212 10.4 Areas of intense economic development 215 viii LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Population 4 1.2 Educational provision 8 1.3 Tropical Africa in the world economy 16 1.4 Exports in the economy 17 1.5 Levels and sources of income 18 2.1 Index of food production 22 2.2 Value of agricultural exports 39 2.3 Coffee production 40 2.4 Cocoa production 44 2.5 Cotton production 46 2.6 Groundnut production 48 2.7 Palm oil and kernel production 50 2.8 Tea production 56 2.9 Rubber production 57 2.10 Sisal production 58 2.11 Sugar production 59 3.1 Fishing 68 3.2 Timber felling and export 72 4.1 Value of mineral production 78 4.2 Oil production 78 4.3 Copper production 81 4.4 Iron-ore production 84 4.5 Diamond production 88 4.6 Role of mining in the economy 89 5.1 Evolution of an export processing industry 102 5.2 Growth of two industries using local materials 104 5.3 Growth of two industries using imported materials 107 ix List of Tables 5.4 Oil refineries 5.5 Employment in manufacturing 6.1 Electricity capacity and production 6.2 Major hydroelectricity schemes 7.1 Port traffic 7.2 Rail traffic 7.3 Rail construction 7.4 Motor vehicles 7.5 Airline traffic 7.6 Air routes to Europe 7.7 Intra-African air routes 7.8 Airport traffic 8.1 Urban population 8.2 Population growth of major cities 8.3 Town population growth in Ghana 8.4 Town population growth in Tanzania 8.5 Town growth in Zambia 8.6 Town growth in Rhodesia 9.1 External trade of tropical Africa 9.2 Trade pattern of selected African countries 9.3 OECD and multilateral aid 9.4 Share of France in external trade 9.5 West German trade 9.6 United States trade 9.7 Japanese trade 9.8 Soviet trade 9.9 Eastern bloc aid 9.10 Trade within tropical Africa 9.11 Dependence on external trade 9.12 Dependence on official aid 10.1 Increase in per capita GNP 10.2 Increase in energy consumption 10.3 Increase in exports from selected African countries 10.4 Regional imbalance in two African states χ LIST OF PLATES Plates 1-8 between pages 40-41 1. Traditional Africa: unproductive country in Tanzania 2. Traditional Africa: densely settled country in Rwanda 3. Commercialization in agriculture: a market in Ghana 4. Commercialization in agriculture : coffee in Uganda 5. New techniques in agriculture : ploughing in Uganda 6. New techniques in agriculture : mechanization in Kenya 7. New structures in agriculture: land consolidation in Kenya 8. Plantation agriculture: sugar in Uganda Plates 9-16 between pages 96-97 9. Oil drilling in eastern Nigeria 10. Oil pipeline in Nigeria 11. Development on the Copperbelt: Nkana Mine 12. Resource-based manufacturing: cement in Uganda 13. Kariba Dam and power station 14. Volta Dam and power station 15. Kainji Dam resettlement: old Bussa 16. Kainji Dam resettlement: new Bussa Plates 17-24 between pages 160-161 17. Port development at Mombasa 18. The new port of Tema 19. Railway construction in Uganda 20. Road construction in Zambia 21. The indigenous city: Ibadan 22. The colonial city : Nairobi 23. The University of Ghana 24. Adult education in rural Ghana xi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OVER much of tropical Africa, life continues today much as it has done for centuries, but in various parts of the region exciting changes are taking place. Indeed, in the minds of many people elsewhere in the world, Africa has been linked throughout the 1960's with "the winds of change". The most outstanding transformation has been in the political map. In 1956 Sudan became only the third independent state in tropical Africa, yet by 1966 there were thirty-three sovereign nations within the region. This process of political emancipation has been accompanied by important social changes, although these have inevitably been taking place more slowly. Another form of change sought by the people of tropical Africa, and one which is the chief concern of most governments now that political independence has been achieved, is economic development. Most of the people of the region are extremely poor, and an improvement in standards of living is an urgent need. In this respect, too, change cannot be brought about as rapidly as in the political sphere, but many forms of development are taking place, and it is with this economic advance that this book is primarily concerned. At the same time, attention must be directed to the facts that the rate of economic growth in recent years has been in many respects disappointing, and that it has been far from uniform over the region. All tropical African countries fall clearly within the group to which the term "underdeveloped" was generally applied in the 1950's. This was replaced by "develop- ing" in the early 1960's, but recently this has in turn given way in many circles to the term "less developed", and unfortunately this is, in many cases, more realistic. Much has already been written on current change in Africa, including several studies of problems of economic development. In addition, a number of books have recently appeared on the geography of the continent, examining the spatial patterns of both natural and human phenomena, and the relationships between these patterns. This book is intended to stand between the texts on African geography and the studies of economic development by focusing on the changes in geographical patterns that have taken place in recent years, or, in other words, on the geographical pattern of recent and current economic change. The area covered is not precisely that lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, but is that of the countries which lie mainly within these limits. The countries which lie to the north are very different in character, and while their relationships with tropical Africa are increasing, these are as yet no stronger than their ties with southern Europe and South-west Asia. In the south, the distinction is in some ways less clear, since there is no physical divide comparable with the Sahara; but both political and economic xiii Preface conditions in South Afiica are quite different from those in most other parts of the conti- nent. South-west Africa/Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland are so closely tied to South Africa that they, too, have been omitted from this book. The island of Madagascar, and smaller islands in the Indian Ocean such as Mauritius and Reunion, have also been excluded. The period of time with which this book is primarily concerned extends from 1956 to 1970. This time span is to some extent arbitrary, but it has been chosen because 1956 was the year in which the process of the transfer of power began. In this way attention has been focused on the pattern of economic development which has accompanied the attainment of independence. An attempt is made to discover the general trends which are being main- tained in current change, and it is hoped that this may be of some relevance to the planning of the accelerated development which is so greatly needed in the 1970's. The development discussed here is essentially that which is following the path already trodden by the prosperous industrial nations of the world, and it is sometimes suggested that this is not appropriate for Africa, which still has time to seek some better way to improve the quality of life. However, this book is concerned with what is happening rather than with what should happen, and rightly or wrongly most African governments have been striving towards a more industrial-urban economy comparable to those which have produced much higher levels of income in North America, Europe, and the Soviet Union. Perhaps priorities will change in the future, as they already have to some extent in, say, Tanzania, but that is for the people of Africa to decide for themselves. I am greatly indebted to many people who have helped me to produce this book, from my students in Africa who taught me much about their homelands, to my colleagues in London who have kindly commented on parts of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Mrs. E. Jamieson and Mrs. F. Barton for their assistance with typing, and to Mr. A. New- man and Miss C. Hill for their help in producing the maps. Most of the writing was done at home, and my greatest debt of all is to my wife for her help and encouragement at every stage. London ANTHONY M. O'CONNOR xiv

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.