ILTweb: TU4022: Fall 1995: Ponting Summary (10)

Chapter 10

A Green History of the World

The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations

By Clive Ponting

Summary of Chapter 10: "Creating the Third World"

The rise of Europe as a world power between 1500 and 1900 drastically altered the structure of the world's economy. Before the sixteenth century, there remained little contact between geographically separated societies: those of the various continents had developed in relative isolation, and their agricultural systems were roughly balanced to support local economies. Technological innovations enabling long distance sea travel allowed European states to invade, colonize and exploit much of the world. This chapter is about the creation of a world economy and explores "the way in which one part of the world - the West (Europe, North America and the White colonies) - became 'developed' and the way another part - given the collective title the Third World - became 'underdeveloped'." (pg. 222)

Ponting begins by describing the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the following Atlantic Islands - the Azores, the Madeira's, the Canaries, and the Cape Verde's. The occupation of these early colonies created a pattern of conquest repeated by other European powers for the next several hundred years. The pattern involves the following:

The exploitation of conquered lands for the benefit of the home economy.
The European control of prime agricultural land for the growth of non-native, non-subsistence crops.
The rise of the plantation system of agriculture, supporting a world economy.
The need for a large and cheap labor force, under European management, to work the land and protect European investments.
The creation of small,powerful, and wealthy European populations in these colonies.

The large, cheap labor force mentioned above consisted primarily of slaves and indentured servants. Between 1500 and the late 1800's, Europeans enslaved an estimated 12 million Africans. Arab nations enslaved another three million. Ponting explores both the mechanisms of slavery and its immeasurable toll in terms of human suffering. Slavery, after its abolition, was simply replaced in many cases by indentured servitude.

Most of the crops grown on these plantations were cash crops, such as sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, tea, cocoa, rubber - and later, palm oil and bananas. Once grown, the crops were shipped to Europe for processing and consumption. Local inhabitants, shoved off their land, were forced to grow subsistence crops on the smallest and least fertile plots of land. With food supplies depleted, malnutrition and associated diseases became prevalent. To this day, Third World nations export more food (often for Western luxury consumption) than they import (for simple subsistence).

In addition to disrupting local agricultural systems, Europeans also exploited their colonies for timber and minerals. The British mining of the Pacific Nauru and Ocean Islands, as described in the chapter, provides one striking example.

Finally, the consequences for the Third World are explored. Ponting states, "The achievement of political independence in the Third World did not bring economic independence. Economies remained tied into the global system created by the industrialized world and their structure." (pg. 222) Industries and lands previously held by the colonial powers were simply privatized by foreign, multinational companies. Third World nations still, by and large, produce and export only cheap, raw materials: processing and manufacturing plants are still located in the West. Increased output of raw materials does not help these countries economically because such increases lead to decreases in the value of the materials produced. In theory, free market economiesenc ourage nations to specialize and concentrate on the production of those items for which they are best suited. This theory was thwarted by European colonization because commodities were produced for European gain and benefit while the self-interests of the colonies themselves were ignored. The Third World continues to try to break free from the deleterious, lasting effects of colonization.