tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467119.post65350845989438775..comments2023-10-24T10:09:22.146+01:00Comments on The Yorkshire Ranter: the frontierAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17153530634675543954noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467119.post-63965417384432964802010-10-04T09:39:28.853+01:002010-10-04T09:39:28.853+01:00Is that Gallagher and Robinson as in 'Africa a...Is that Gallagher and Robinson as in 'Africa and the Victorians' or as in 'Imperialism of Free Trade' ?<br /><br />I thought the main lesson of 'Africa and the Victorians' was that the reality was nothing like the Guardian stereotype of grasping imperialists descending to loot a continent - that indeed in the mid-nineteenth century it was only abolitionist (Guardianista) sentiment which kept any presence at all in East and West Africa. Even for South Africa, where the 'grasping imperialist' story holds up best, it seems that worries about an economically powerful Boer hinterland compromising British coastal control (and by extension control of the sea-routes to India and Australia) were at least as powerful as the desire for all that lovely gold and diamonds.<br /><br />Afghanistan does seem to fit well into the slightly shambolic imperialist pattern Gallagher and Robinson described - with the abolitionist-equivalent being David Aaronovitch.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.com