The economic impact of colonial investments in Africa: Cases of France and Belgium

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century, most European states were intensely concerned with protecting their lands in Africa. Between 1870 and 1914, Western colonial expansion was continuing: the whole non-Western world, directly or indirectly, came under the control of one or another great power. In addition to the historic colonial states (United Kingdom, France, Holland, Russia), new states, even of very recent formation, started to engage in the race to conquer new colonies (Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States). The European states agreed at the Berlin Conference that any future power occupying the entire African lands and properly informing other powers would thus become the owner of the said lands. This led to the rapid division of Africa among the colonial powers, and a new era of colonialism was entered. France occupied Algeria in 1830, and from 1845 onwards, it started to move towards the interior of the continent from the coasts of Senegal, Guinea and West Africa. This progress continued in the west-east direction in the north and south of the Great Sahara. Meanwhile, Algeria officially gained the status of a French colony only in 1878. France occupied Tunisia in 1881, and then seized the lands of today's Mali, Chad, Niger and the Central African Republic and took Western Sudan under its full control. The dispute between France and Belgium over the mouth of the Congo River was settled by leaving the right side of the river to France at the Berlin Conference, while also Dahomey (today's Benin) and Ivory Coast joined the French colonies. The French brought together eight colonies in West Africa around a federation in 1895. Formally named French West Africa in 1904, this federation of colonies included Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (present-day Mali), French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Dahomey (Benin), and Niger. Dakar was the capital of this colonial federation, which lasted until 1960. The focus of thesis is on the effects of the investments made by France and Belgium on the economic development of Africa. This issue will be evaluated during colonial and post-colonial period. Colonialism had very heterogeneous effects in the world context, things were done through many mechanisms during the colonial period, the most important of which was the flow of money to Africa. The initial purpose of investments in certain areas was not to develop African countries, but to exploit them more and prepare better conditions for the colonizers. But as time passed, these investments inevitably started to contribute to African countries. This thesis contributes to investment-specific and economic development issues. This research on colonial investments of two countries will enhance our knowledge of African economic history in general and of French and Belgian colonial history in particular.