Historical rucksack

Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir and Ásgeir Brynjar Torfason

Chapter 2 in The Elgar Companion to Creating a Regenerative Economy for Wellbeing, 2026, pp 21-37 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter connects historical processes from slavery, colonialism and resource extraction to the evolution of global capitalism. Dominant colonial thinking in Europe started around 1500 when exploratory colonialism took hold and lasted until the 1700s. This included trading posts, land accumulation with resource access and slavery. In the 1800s–1900s material colonialism took over with the introduction of Western values, which led to more consumption. While colonised countries gained independence, they continued to be economically dependent on the West and Western economic values with a focus on wealth. The chapter broadens critical perspectives that have been neglected in economics and development policy. Using the timeline of colonial and post-colonial economic flows in a compelling way, with emphasis on ‘material’ and ‘information’ colonialism to build a useful vocabulary for the reader to understand the background of the main problems before moving towards the rethinking necessary.

Keywords: Colonialism; Slavery; Land-Grabbing; Extractive Capitalism; Post-Colonialism; Transparency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800884960
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