The tentacles of progress : technology transfer in the age of imperialism, 1850-1940 / Daniel R. Headrick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Headrick, Daniel R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imperialism--History.

Imperialism.

Technology transfer--History.

Technology transfer.

Great Britain--Colonies--History.

Great Britain.

Tropics--Economic conditions.

Tropics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 405 pages) maps, tables, graph

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Technology transfer in the age of imperialism, 1850-1940

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1988.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This study analyzes why a massive transfer of Western technology to European colonies between 1850 and 1940 did not create an industrial revolution in those countries. It argues that the transfer of technology caused some colonial regions to become locked in a state of underdevelopment.

Daniel Headrick examines why the massive transfer of Western technology to European colonies did not spark an industrial revolution in those countries. Rather than spurring economic progress, he argues, the transfer of stock technology between 1850 and 1940 caused the traditional self-sufficient economies of the colonial regions to be stuck in a state of underdevelopment, a legacy which burdens these countries to this day.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

1 Imperialism, Technology, and Tropical Economies

Technologies and Western-Tropical Relations

The Transfer Process

The Setting and the Argument

Notes

2 Ships and Shipping

Characteristics of World Shipping

Steamships before 1869

The Suez Canal

Shipbuilding after 1869

Tropical Harbors

The New Organization of Shipping

The Major Shipping Companies

The Causes of British Supremacy

3 The Railways of India

Origins of the Indian Railways

Building the Trunk Lines (1853-71)

The Era of State Construction (1870-79)

The New Guarantee Period (1880-1914)

World War I and After (1914-47)

The Locomotive Industry

Consequences and Comparisons

4 The Imperial Telecommunications Networks

Submarine Telegraph Cables, 1850-70

Cable Technology to 1914

Submarine Cables and the British Empire, 1870-1914

The French Cable Network, 1856-95

British Abuses and French Reactions, 1884-1914

The Indian Telegraphs

French Colonial Posts and Telegraphs

Colonial Wireless Networks to 1918

British Wireless after 1918

French Wireless after 1918

5 Cities, Sanitation, and Segregation

Hong Kong Water

Calcutta Sewage and Sanitation

Dakar and the Plague

6 Hydraulic Imperialism in India and Egypt

Precolonial Irrigation and British Restorations to 1837

The Classic Era of Indian Irrigation, 1838-54

The Era of Private Irrigation, 1854-69

Productive and Protective Works, 1866-98

The Indian Irrigation Commission and After, 1897-1940

Egypt, the Nile, and the British

Conclusion

7 Economic Botany and Tropical Plantations

Tropical Crops from Plunder to Science

Plant Transfers and the British Botanic Empire

Agricultural Research in the British Tropics.

Science and Agriculture in the Dutch East Indies

Tropical Botany in France

Botany and Plantations in the French Empire

Cinchona

Sugar Cane

Rubber

8 Mining and Metallurgy

Malayan Tin and Chinese Technology in the Nineteenth Century

The Western Takeover of Malayan Tin

Opening the African Copperbelt

Katanga Copper, 1911-40

Iron and Steel in India: the Demand Side

Indian Iron before 1914

Background of the Indian Steel Industry

The Tata Iron and Steel Company

9 Technical Education

Technical Education in Egypt

Vocational Education in West Africa

Technical Education in India: Demand and Supply

The Politics of Technical Education in India

Foreign Study and Independent Schools

Technical Education after World War I

10 Experts and Enterprises

The Smallholders

The Experts

The Cotton Mills

Indian Shipping and Shipbuilding

Indianizing the Steel Industry

11 Technology Transfer and Colonial Politics

Bibliographical Essay

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-028149-9

1-280-44971-3

0-19-802178-X

1-60129-673-8

OCLC:

476015329

Publisher Number:

2027/heb03326 hdl