(Tripathi and Jumani, 2007). During the first two decades of the twentieth
century production in Indian textile mills increased from 0.6 billion to 1.3
billion yards. The coal industry imported 0.5 million tonnes in 1914 and
exported 1 million tonnes in 1916. Production of steel increased from 31,000
tonnes in 1913 to 181,000 in 1918 (Rothermund, 1993). In 1914 foreign banks
held 70 per cent of total deposits and by 1947 only 17 per cent (Maddison,
2007; Mukherjee, 2007:39). Likewise, Kenya experienced modest state-
promoted economic growth in the late colonial era. The industrial workforce
increased from 180,000 in 1942 to 440,000 in 1952 and at independence the
manufacturing sector constituted 9.5 per cent of GDP. During the 1920s a
number of agro-processing industries were promoted through tariffs on wheat
milling and protective railway rates. The state-owned Industrial Development
Corporation (IDC) acted as a finance agency providing finance, pioneer tax
relief, custom duty refunds, and buildings in established industrial estates
(Fahnbulleh, 2006).
Colonialism, diversity and isolation
There is widespread agreement that the borders of contemporary African states
are arbitrary and that this pattern has colonial origins. Treaties among imperial
powers and with local chiefs often resulted in straight lines,or the use of rivers
or other geographical features previously as likely to unite as separate local
populations. There are 177 African cultural or ethnic groups that are parti-
tioned across borders,representing on average 43 per cent of their country’s
population (this is known as dismemberment). The Mandara of Cameroon and
Nigeria, for example, have maintained a unified parallel political authority
despite now living in different countries (Englebert el al.,2002). A common
argument is that dismemberment will increase conflict between states, espe-
cially where these borders partition previously united groups. Somalia’s long-
standing claims over Ethiopian and Kenyan territory inhabited by ethnic
Somalis have been the cause of repeated conflict with both countries. Other
examples include Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Libya, Chad, Ghana,
Togo and the Côte d’Ivoire. Chapter 12 discusses the 24 secessionist attempts
in Africa between 1946 and 1998, most of which were linked to dismember-
ment. The discussion has mostly been based around specific example; one
exception to this is a detailed statistical study: Engelbert et al.(2002) showed
that there is a significant statistical relationship between colonial dismember-
ment and the likelihood of conflict between 1960 and 1999.
Colonialism and human development
Another area of widespread agreement is that colonial governments at best
neglected welfare and at worst perpetuated genocide. The native American
population declined by an estimated 80–90 per cent within the first 100 to 150
years following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Within 50 years
Colonialism 201