Austin - Capitalism and the Colonies

Links between the evolution of capitalism at home and the extent and form of empire abroad
Colonial rule by capitalist countries has often been seen as the primary vehicle for the spread of capitalist institutions worldwide
Divergence in wealth and military technology between the West and the rest
- Logistical capacity
First industrial revolution generated a historical transformation of commercial relations between Europe and Asia
Emergence of a new international division of labour, with the former exporting manufactured goods while the latter specialized in the export of primary products
Universal free trade
Old European empires were joined by the neo-Europes and Japan

Imperialism in the Metropoles

Causes
- National prestige and identity
- Military and naval planning
The propensity of imperial powers to use force against foreigners overseas, either to make them open their markets or to seize their territory, was related to the unevenness of the spread of industrialization in time and space

Colonial trade made an important contribution to the British origins of global industrialization

Nationalist pressure swept away the biggest of the colonies in the European empires that survived or sought to resurrect themselves after World War II
General reorientation of business in the metropoles from colonial markets to the markets of fellow industrial economies

Factor endowments affected the use of various means of securing labour for European users, or for obliging or encouraging colonial subjects to apply their own labour power to the production of commodities
Only 2 of free land, free peasants, and non-labouring landlords could exist together
Natural resources and location also influenced colonial strategies

Other basic features associated with capitalism were far from unique to Europe
Indigenous and regional trading networks succeeded in defending their markets throughout the colonial era

The closest any empire has ever come to combining the pursuit of free and integrated markets with the establishment and entrenchment of individual private property rights was surely mid-19th century Britain
Each capitalist empire did something to integrate markets, by investing in mechanized transport, standardizing currencies, and abolishing internal trolls
Policies varied between colonies and even within the same empire
Wage labour grew
Colonial administrations tended to discourage the sale of land among the Indigenous population to avoid the appearance of a landless class