A colonial dilemma: British policy and the colonial economy of Tanganyika 1918-1938

Abstract

The following work is a study of the aims and nature of British colonial policy in Tanganyika between 1918 and 1939. The two decades between the World Wars mark the period of "colonial rule proper." Colonial administrators looked forward to a long and untroubled future; the wars of conquest were largely over and colonial states were established within the African colonies. In the minds of officials Africans were backward and primitive and colonial rule appeared destined to last for a very long time. Administrators could proceed with colonial economic development - which meant turning the African colonies into a source of cheap raw materials for the benefit of European enterprise and the world market. The task of the colonial state was to guarantee that the extraction of raw materials by private enterprise would be both profitable and long-lasting. To attain these ends in Tanganyika, British administrators both in London and in Dar-es-Salaam worked on policies designed to create a permanent colonial economy within the Territory.