The jetties, Jetty Street and the town of Port Elizabeth in 1872, 1883 and 1899. THE MAKING OF COLONIAL CAPITALISM: INTENSIFICATION AND EXPANSION IN THE ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA, 1854 - 1899 Alan Spencer Mabin M.A., University of the Witwatersrand, 1977 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department 0 f Geography Q Alan Spencer Mabin 1984 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY April 1984 All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Alan Spencer Mabin Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: The Making of Colonial Capitalism: Intensification and Expansion in the Economic Geography of the Cape Colony, South Africa, 1854 - 1899 Examining Committee: Chairperson: Roger Hayter Edward M .abson- Senior Supervisor Heribert Adam - - Paul M. Koroscil Robert V. Kubicek Shue Tuck Wong / Leonard 'Helke External Examiner Professor Department of Geography University of Waterloo Date Approved: April 16, 1984 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from Phe library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thes i s/Project/Extended Essay The Making of Colonial Capitalism: Intensification and Expansion in the Economic Geography of the Cape Colony, South Africa, 1854 - 1899 Author: (signature) Alan S. Mabin ( name April 19, 1984 (date) In the second half of the nineteath century the capitalist economy of South Africa was expanded first to the Kjlnberley diamond fields and then to the Transvaal gold fields. This transformation reiiiade the geography of the Cape Colony and reoriented its economy towards the Transvaal as the emerging economic centre of gravity in southern Africa. This thesis argues that the redirection of capitalist economic activity to the interior zf Scuth Africa from its coastal areas of origin was generated within the Cape Colony as a series of responses to the recessions in its economy in the sixties and the eighties. Other factors which contributed to the restructuring are addressed. These are the 'imperial factor', the processes of capital formation and the nature of commodity production. By extension of this central thesis It Is argued that the commitment to northward expansion acted to the detriment of the intensification of productive activity within the Cape Colony. Previous historical geography written on the Cape has adopted a regional approach, examined traditional themes of historical geography or focussed on frontier of settlement. This thesis examines economic and social history as a perspective upon geographical change in the Cape Colony; The method employed involved, first, mapping and graphing indicators of the course of economic development. Second, the causes of change within each of the subperiods defined were examined. Third, the geographical direction iii of inyestnent in each subperiod was investigated to assess the nature of expansion geographitally and the degree of intensificatim of activity within the colony. The printed papers of the Cape colonial government provided one source of material for the study. These papers include statistical data as well abetbe reports and evidence of Select Committees, and reports of government departments. Archives consulted were the Standard Bank Archives, Johannesburg, as well as other collections in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Newspapers and books of the period were also examined. The thesis demonstrates that forces within the Cape Colony produced the restructuring of the economy and geography of the colony and southern Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. Contents Abstract iii List of Tables viii List of Figures X List of Abbreviations xii Preface . xiv Chapter One Introduction A Geographical Problem Argument Territorial and Temporal Limits -- - Approach to the Study .. Methods and Sources Content of Subsequent Chapters Notes Chapter Two International Conditions of Colonial Development 1860 - 1900 Economic Changes in the Late Nineteenth Century Imperialism and Local Forces of Expansion The British Empire in Australia and the Power of Local Decisions 44 Internal Competition and Conflict 47 Notes 5 1 Chapter Three The Cape: Colonial Economy and Geography 5 2 Physical Geography of the Cape Colony 55 Merchant Capital and the Economy 6 1 Deficiencies of the Transport System .80 Rural Transformation: Sheep Farming 1854 - 1868 90 Motes 100 Chapter Four Wool, Diamonds and Steam The Boom: Wool, Feathers and Diamonds The Formation of an Urban System The development of communications The politics of railway extension 1879 - 1881 Banks and towns From Diamond Fields to Industrial Mining Notes Chapter Five Recession and its Aftermath 180 The Course of Recession 1881 - 1886 181 The Decline of Port Elizabeth 189 Labour, Capital and the Kimberley Environment 198 The Imperial Factor and Cape Expansion 1875 - 1885 2 12 Protection and Prospecting 220 Notes 240 Chapter Six Commercial Colony, Industrial Hinterland, 1886 - 1899 247 Looking North, 1886 - 1890 249 Gold, Railways and Slump, 1886 - 1890 259 The Struggle for the Carrying Trade 274 Colonial Development in the Nineties 284 Agriculture, Industry and Coal Mining 292 Commercial Colony in the Nineties 307 Notes 310 Chapter Seven Conclusion Appendix The Population of the Cape Colony, 1856 - 1904 Bib 1iography vii List of Tables Table 2.1. Annual growth rates of industrial production, Gnited Kingdom, United States and Germany, from the mid-nineteenth century to the first world war 29 Table 2.2. Industrial indicators for the United Kingdom, New South Wales and the Cape Colony 1891 3 1 Table 2.3. Merchandise trade, terms of trade, investment earnings and balance of payments, United Kingdom 1850 - 1910 33 Table 2.4. New British portfolio foreign investment by continents 1865 - 1899 (f million) 34 Table 3.1. Loans authorised by the Cape parliament for harbour works 1854 - 1868 8 7 Table 3.2. Harbour statistics, Table Bay and Algoa Bay 1865 - 1869/70 88 Table 4.1. Exports of wool, mohair, ostrich feathers and diamonds from the Cape Colony 1869-1875 (•’000) 123 Table 4.2. Examples of wages and prices 1869 - 1875 144 Table 4.3. Cape Colony wool and diamond exports 1875-1880 (•’000) 149 Table 4.4. Banks and branches 1860-1880 f 63 Table 5.1. Sample daily wages, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth 1883 185 Table 5.2. Selected Cape Colony exports 1880-1887 (•’000) 187 Table 6.1. Cape railway investment and revenue 1886 - 1894 278 Table 6.2. Shares of South African railway revenue accruing to Cape Colony and Natal Government Railways, and to the NZASM, 1891 - 1899 283 Table 6.3. Selected Cape railway statistics 1894 - 1899 284 Table 6.4. Pastoral exports 1886 - 1899 (•’000) 293 Table 6.5. Wool exports 1886 - 1899: weight, composition and average prices 296 Table 6.6. Manufacturing industry in the Cape Colony 1891 and 1904 299 viii Table 8.1. Proportion of population by region and proportion other than white, per cent, and total population, Cape Colony 1856 - 1904 327 Table A.2. Cape Colony towns over 2000 inhabitants 1865 - 1904 328 Table A.3. Number of towns over 2000 population by region 1865 - 1904 330 List of Figures Figure 1.1. Expansion of the railway system in the Cape Colony 1860 - 1899 6 Figure 2.1. Exports and imports of the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, 1854 - 1900. 30 Figure 2.2. Distribution of British overseas portfolio investment to 1899. 36 Figure 3.1. Expansion of the Cape Colony and of British possessions in southern Africa, 1847 - 1900 Figure 3.2. Simplified physical features of the Cape Colony as bounded in 1900 57 Figure 3.3. Towns in the Cape Colony 1860 6 4 Figure 3.4. Cape Colony imports and exports, excluding specie, 1850 - 1899 68 Figure 3.5. Locations of banks in the Cape Colony 1860 70 Figure 3.6. Banks in the Cape Colony 1837 - 1885 74 Figure 3.7. Shares of imports and exports through major Cape ports, 1835 - 1899 7 6 Figure 3.8. Shares of trade (imports plus exports) through major Cape ports, 1835 - 1899 77 Figure 3.9. Cape government expenditure on roads and bridges, 1860 - 1900 79 Figure 3.10. Locations of banks in the Cape Colony, 1865 and 1870 80 Figure 4.1. Map of an improved pastoral farm in the Middelburg district 127 Figure 4.2. Advertisements for competing stage coach c~mpanies, 1873 138 Figure 4.3. spriggls %ailway proposal of 1879 151 Figure 4.4. ~pri~g'srailway Proposals of 1880 153 Figure 4.5. Model of holonial transport route development 156 Figure 4.6. Schematic diagram of Cape railway system (a) 1880 (b) 1885 Figure 4.7. Banks in the Cape Colony 1875-1880 Figure 4.8. Cape Colony Cement Imports 1857-1899 Figure 4.9. Plan of Kimberley Mine in 1883 Figure 5.1. Insolvencies and sequestrations, Cape Colony, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth 1884-1899 Figure 6.1. spriggtsrailway scheme 1888 Figure 6.2. Transfers and bonds passed in the Cape Colony 1884 - 1889. Figure 6.3. ~prigg'srailway extension plan 1890 Figure 6.4. The concentration of banks in the Cape Colony, 1837 - 1900 Figure 6.5. Locations of banks in the Cape Colony 1885 - 1895 Figure 6.6.