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The Dynamics of Railway Imperialism, 1888–1910

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Capital and Labour on the Rhodesian Railway System, 1888–1947

Part of the book series: St Antony’s Series ((STANTS))

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Abstract

There has been fierce debate over the years amongst historians over whether the main priority of Rhodes and his camp-followers was to extend the ambit of the British Empire throughout all Africa or to gain control of territory and resources for capitalist exploitation and self-enrichment. The opposing sides in this debate have all used Rhodes’ railway schemes as examples to ballast their respective arguments. In 1974 Ian Phimister intervened in this debate in an article which argued that Rhodes was best understood as capitalist in his motivation. Phimister looked at Rhodes’ attitude to railway development before 1897 to illustrate his argument. He claimed that, realising as early as 1894 that there was no ‘second Rand’ in Southern Rhodesia, Rhodes ‘at first followed a cheap and highly cautious’ railway policy, only pushing construction on rapidly after 1896, when ‘the collapse of the speculative boom and the African risings threatened capitalist investment in Southern Rhodesia’.1

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Notes and References

  1. I. R. Phimister, ‘Rhodes, Rhodesia and the Rand’, Journal of Southern Africa Studies, I (1974) pp. 84–6.

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  1. Jon Lunn
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© 1997 Jon Lunn

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Lunn, J. (1997). The Dynamics of Railway Imperialism, 1888–1910. In: Capital and Labour on the Rhodesian Railway System, 1888–1947. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13971-2_2

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