Precolonial Economy and Society, c. 1850–1930

Ellen Hillbom and Jutta Bolt
Additional contact information
Ellen Hillbom: University of Lund
Jutta Bolt: Lund University

Chapter 2 in Botswana – A Modern Economic History, 2018, pp 25-48 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The Tswana groups occupying present-day Botswana arrived in the mid-nineteenth century. In this chapter Hillbom and Bolt analyse their precolonial agro-pastoral production system of combining subsistence crop farming with amassment of cattle. The chapter starts with explaining how the settlement patterns and allocation of agricultural resources of the Tswana formed the basis for the development of a centralized state. Subsequently, the colonial administration’s focus on turning Bechuanaland into a labour reserve for the Southern African region and establishing a taxation system to secure government revenues is scrutinized. For this early colonial era the authors concur with the perception that Botswana experienced limited colonial influence and they identify the 1930s as the break with precolonial structures.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-319-73144-5_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9783319731445

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-73144-5_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Economic History from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().