Chapter : 1. The Making of a Global World
Rinderpest, or the Cattle Plague
Rinderpest, or the Cattle Plague :
Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population. For centuries, land and livestock sustained African livelihoods and people rarely worked for a wage. In the late nineteenth century, Europeans were attracted to Africa due to this vast resources of land and minerals, hoping to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe. But there was an unexpected problems - a shortage of labour willing to work for wages. To recruit and retain labour, heavy taxes were imposed which could be paid only by working for wages on plantations and mines. Inheritance laws were changed so that peasants were displaced from land: only member of a family was allowed to inherit land, as a result of which the others were pushed into the labour market.
Rinderpest arrived in Africa in the late 1880s. It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers invading Eritrea in East Africa. Entering Africa in the east, rinderpest moved west 'like forest fire', reaching Africa's Atlantic coast in 1892. It reached the Cape (Africa's southernmost tip) five years later. Along the way rinderpest killed 90 percent of the cattle. The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods. Control over scarce resource of cattle enabled European colonizers to conquer and subdue Africa.
Trending Articles & Blogs
Download Old Sample Papers For Class X & XII
Download Practical Solutions of Chemistry and Physics for Class 12 with Solutions