German Capital, The Netherlands Railway Company and the Political Economy of the Transvaal 1886–1900
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8976548 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jean Jacques Van Helten (Commonwealth Education Trust, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1978 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 369-390 |
| Publication date | 1978-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of African History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0021853700016212 |
| OpenAlex | W2112108049 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 13 |
This article tries to throw light on one aspect of the ‘business partition’ of Africa, namely Anglo–erman economic rivalry on the Rand between 1886 and 1900. It examines the activities of the German-owned Netherlands South African Railway Company (N.Z.A.S.M.), which possessed the monopoly of construction and management of all railways connecting the republic with a seaport. The article assesses this company's impact upon the relations of the South African Republic with both the maritime colonies of the Cape and Natal and with Great Britain. Whitehall regarded the N.Z.A.S.M. as the fountainhead of ever-increasing German commercial and political penetration in the Transvaal and also considered the railway company hostile to its interests in that it allegedly discriminated against British commerce. The gold-mining industry also viewed the company with hostility, since its high freightrates increased the price of imported machinery, foodstuffs, etc. The South African Republic, on the other hand, saw the N.Z.A.S.M. as a useful means of access to both the German and Dutch capital markets, while the company arranged for diplomatic lobbying in Berlin and The Hague in favour of the Republic. By 1898, German mining interests on the Rand had managed to persuade Berlin that their interests were not served by either the Kruger regime or the German-owned N.Z.A.S.M. and that an administration more favourably disposed towards their objectives, and possibly imposed by force by the British, should not be opposed. It is therefore argued that the South African War was prompted mainly by the desire to establish British commercial hegemony on the Rand, to safeguard the interests of international mining capital and to create a more pliable polity capable of articulating and responding to these particular economic imperatives
Ancient history · Archaeology · Capital (architecture · Economic history · Economics · Economy · German · Market economy · Monopoly · Political science · Politics · Rivalry · African history and culture studies · History · Law · South African History and Culture
The Drifts Crisis, the ‘missing telegrams’, and the Jameson Raid
Banking, Credit and Capital in Colonial Natal, c.1850-1910
Angola and Mozambique, 1870–1905
East Africa 1870–1905
French Congo and Gabon 1886–1905
Africa on the Eve of Partition
Western Africa, 1870–1886
Western Africa, 1886–1905
North Africa
Madagascar and France, 1870–1905
The European Partition of Africa
The European Scramble and Conquest in African History
King Leopold's Congo, 1886–1908
The Cambridge History of Africa
The Political Economy of British Expansion Overseas, 1750-1914
The Decivilizing Rails
Location in History
Big Business in African Studies
Early regulation and social organisation on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, 1887–1892
Railways and labour migration to the rand mines
Studies in the theory of imperialism
Africa and the Victorians
Finance capital and South African Goldmining 1886–1914
Native Labour in South Africa
German Diplomatic Documents, 1871—1914
Structural Changes and Business Cycles in South Africa, 1806-1936
Selected Subjects in the Economic History of South Africa
Imperial Business in Africa Part II. Interpretations
Britain and Germany in Africa
The Growth of Boer Opposition to Kruger (1890-1895)
Lost Causes of the Jameson Raid
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,43 |
| Citation span | 1980 - 2021 (42) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |