Urban Beginning and Development and Phases of Urbanization on the Indian Ocean Region Coast

12G

CHAPTER III

Historically, the Indian Ocean has been more a medium of communication than

a barrier for the peoples of the Indian Ocean Region since time immemorial. The two

most ancient regions of human civilizations, Sumer and Babylonia along the banks of

the river Euphrates and Tigris and Harappa and Moltanjodaro along the Indus bank

had developed strong links via - Indian Ocean as evidenced by the finding of Sumerian

seals in Harappa and Mohenjadaro.

The spread of Buddhism and Sanskritie culture from India to South East Asia

and even to China and Japan was over the Indian Ocean. The temple complex of

Angkor Wat in Thailand is a classic example of the architectural style based on the

Puranic cosmology and the main temple in the middle of the complex represents Mt.

Menu which, according to the Puranas, is located at the centre of the universe. The

spread of the Hindu empires into Indo - China ( Champa, Kambuja, Sailendra ) and

Indonesia ( Majapohit and Sri vijaya ) also testified to the strong links that India, and

particularly South India had with the South East Asian Region. It is because of these

historical links that even the muslimes of Indonesia have sanstritic first names and

that the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are very popular with the people of

this region. The Rath Yatra of Puri is again a historic reminder of this oceanic link

between India and South East Asia. It symbolizes the beginning of the movement of

trading vessels from the east of India to Burma now Myanmar, Thailand etc. The

noted Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang ( 629 A.D.) and Fahien (414 A.D.) came to India

on board such vessels.

127

Similarly the first contact or Islam with India was through the Arab traders

who established their trading colony on the Kerala coast in Cochin, where the first

muslim mosque was constructed. Even during the life time of Prophet Mohammad (71h

century A.D.), Indian traders from Surat and Broach were actively trading with the

Arabs and Parsians through the Parsian Gulf. Again, during this period the Indian

contact with Roman empire through the Indian Ocean was very strong, as indicated by

the unearthing of Roman gold coins at an archaeological site near Pondicherry.

The Indian contact with East Africa was not as strong as that of the Arabs, who

had established their trading posts as far south as Sofala on the East African coast. The

Arabs had established a string of trading posts along the East African coast from

Mogadishu in the north to Sofala in the south throug~ Mombasa Kilwa, Zanzibar and

other ports. Each of these ports led to an inland trading caravan routes. The most

important trading centre on East coast of Africa from the 8th to the 14th centuries was

Zanzibar, which had continued to be strong Arab outpost in Africa till the present

time. (Fig. 111.1 EastAfrican Trade in the 14th Century)

There was a considerable movement of freight and people by sea during the

ancient and medieval periods and over long distances. It would hardly be an

exaggeration to say that every historical and local circumstances that has worked to

better the condition of developed settlements has had the opposite effect on the

developing world. Take, first of all, the wider setting of the international trade. It was

precisely designed in colonial times to bring to surplus back to the metropolitan

powers. Investment occurred only in those services which underpinned the export

sector routes from mines and plantations in the interior, ports growing in to large

l28

THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION EAST AFRICAN TRADE IN THE 14TH-CENTURY

SUEZ

.. INDIAN OCEAN

(-·-·-·-·- MAIN SEA ROUTES

:FIG. III .1

129

coastal cities through which materials were dispatched and manufactures returned.

These cities gave virtually no wider stimulus to their own hinterlands and the lines of

communication, all running to the coasts with few or no lateral links, gave an almost

visual impression of what the Dominican economist Pere Lebert called "the milch cow

economy". In a very real sense these ports established along the Indian Ocean coastal

region - Calcutta , Bombay now Mumbai, Madras now Chennai, Karachi , Aden, Dar­

es-Salaam, Maputo, Darban, Mogadishu, Colombo, Rangoon, Kuala Lampur,

Singapore, Jakarta, Perth and in other regions Buenos Aires, Lagos, Shanghai etc. with

their modern buildings installations and services were much part of the developing and

developed world economy as today's European bidonvilles are a projection of the

poorer countries.

This is the background of long subservience to an economic system designed

for other nations interests, of an infrastructure still geared to those interests, of

relatively stagnant agriculture and export cities dominating the urban scene that we

must bear in mind when we examine the settlements of the developing world 1•

Historically speaking, the urbanization has been viewed as an important actor

in the arena of economic change, orchestrating the back down of the feudal order and

taking societies to a higher social formation. This view is generally based on the

industrial economic history of today advanced countries, where urbanization played a

significant part in their development. In the early phased of their industrial growth and

expansion, urbanization fulfilled three major economic roles. First, it indeed labor shift

1 Ward, Barbara, ( 1976 ). The Home of Man. Toronto. Me Clilland & Steward, pp 15

130

from agrarian areas to expanding urban industrial centres,- thus providing necessary

labor for the latter. Se~ondly, not only did urbanization offer employment

opportunities for the surplus labor force in the agrarian sector, but it also boosted labor

productivity, which was critical in increasing capital accumulation. Increased labor

productivity led to increase in production aso well as expanded the domestic consumer

market for both industrial and agricultural products. Third, since major cities were

often industrial centres, urbanization helped to facilitate the diffusion of technological

innovations across space- a process which ultimately resulted in the growth of non -

industrial sector as well. These are some of the reasons why, cities in today's advanced

countries were often characterized as being "generative". 2

OContrary to what the so called "modernisation theory" projected, most cities in

today's- under - developed societies have failed to duplicate the above trajectory

traveled by the cities of advanced countries. Although the third world cities have

performed the first role of attracting large number of rural migrants, they have

generally been ineffective in fulfilling the second and third roles, which are economic

in nature. Economically, instead of becoming generative the third world dties have

largely remained parasitic, siphoning away resources ! form the other areas. The

- . urbanisation process which has taken place in the countries of the Indian Ocean

Region except the Australia and South Africa, which form a major part of the third

world countries is not an exception to this fact.

With this premise, we explore, two basic questions I.e. first, why the

~ Hoselitze, B. F., (1953), The Role of Cities in the Economic Growth of Underdeveloped Countries, Journal of Political Economy, pp.61.

131

urbanisation in this region generally failed to perform the second and third roles

described above? Second, how can the process of urbanisation in this region can

fulfill these functions? While, the answer to the first question some what lengthy

historical analysis of urbanisation processes in the Indian Ocena Region countries, the

answer to the second question is to make contributions to the progressive development

of under - developed countries. It is imperative that these countries pursue what we for

the want of an appropriate phrase call a" newcapitalist approach ". This approach

essentially emphasizes indigenous development rather than following the path of

dependent capitalistic development (DCD) which relies on imported technology and

foreigri financial resources, markets and even finished raw materials. As a perennial

dancer to the tune played by global monopoly capital, dependent capitalist

development is inherently subservient and hence accountable only to the former which

tends to have chokehold on under developed countries.

With these assertions, we now attempt to examine the historical analysis of

processes of urbanisation in this region. In this attempt we first outline a conceptual

framework followed by discussions of urbanism and colonialism, the characteristics

of colonial urbanisation and cities, colonial urbanisation and Britain colonial urban

system followed by pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial phases of urbanisation

and city growth in the Indian Ocean Region.

THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Urban development in the Indian Ocean Region has a rich and long history.

Yet, social scientists studying third world urbanisation have established a fairly rigid

and narrow perspective when analysing it. The rapid growth of urbanisation in the

132

countries of Indian Ocean Region and even other third world countries is generillly

interpreted as "over urbanisation," a term that connotes the idea of a level of

urbanisation higher than that which can normally be attained given the level of

industrialisation?

The issue of urbanisation in this region becomes incomprehensible and

distorted when analysed only within the framework of over urbanisation or industrial-

pre-industrial dichotomy. Both of which as Castells argues are, quite enthrocentric and

uncritically transport the schema of economic growth of the advanced capitalistic

countries to other social environment in an entirely different socio-historical time

frame. Use of the European, American or even Japanese experiences as the universal

norm to investigate the process of urbansiation in this region will present only a

mechanic view of the problem.

The conventional paradigm ·is based on the premise that third world

development would follow the same historical trajectory traveled by Europe and the

United States. In the case of this regions urbanisation such was not the case as most

internal forces· of changes were neutralised, derailed or distorted by European

penetration. Because of this external disturbances, early -cities could not or did not

form ail indigenously generated capitalist mode of production and become a dynamic

force in the process of national development. In reference to India, Mai-x saw the role

of capitalist colonialism in pre- capitalist societies as being progressive4• J.A

3 Caste lis, M., ( 1980), The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach, Cambridge, The MIT Press,pp.41

4 Marx, Karl, ( 1977), The City, The Division of Labor and the Emergence of Capitalism, in the Third World Urbanization, edt. Abu I. Land R. Hay, Chicago, Maaroufa, pp.26

133

.Schumpeter characterized it as "creative destruction"

The logic was that colonialism world act as a leveler of economic development

in that it would destroy the feudal order and establish the capitalist mode of production

in pre-capitalistic societies like India. This would ultimately raise there societies to the

same level achieved by industrial Europe- a Marxist version of the deffusionist

modernisation theory. But this much expected economic leveling never occurred.

What actually occurred was imperial dependency under the yoke of global monopoly

capital commanded by European colonial powers. Indigenous development-capitalist

or otherwise-was totally retarded and supplanted. In essence, a linear comparison of

third world urbanisation with that of Europe cannot yield a realistic explanation of the

former. Abu-Lughod and Hay state5: "When the West experienced it enormous burst

ofpopulation growth, for example, it was able to export its surplus to the New

World to Asia and even to Africa. But where is India to export hers? And when

industrial production burgeoned in Europe, there were no other competitors

offering the goods she produced. There were, on the contrary large empires

whose markets she controlled, whose tariffs she set, whose resources she obtained

at cost, whose cheap labor she enticed or enslaved. These were some of the

advantages, which the west enjoyed, but which the third world cannot expect to

duplicate. lnfact, many of the disabilities which the third world has inherited were

the underside of this western development".

When Europe underwent a rapid transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries,

5 Abu- Lughad, J. and Hay, R .. edt. ( 1977), Third World Urbanization, Chicago, Maaroufa,pp. 40.

13~

its cities were the only dominant centres in the world backed by the twin motors of

world wide commercial trade and epochal industrial revolution . European powers of

the time exercised their economic authority and monopolistic control across the globe

unhindered. Today's third world cities have neither the advantage of monopolistic

economic power nor the technological independence that European cities possessed.

By the 19th century the European manufacturers had systematically eliminated most

handicraft exports from Asia and its technological foundation. The third world cities

of Indian Ocean Region. thus became exporters of raw materials and importers of

manufactured products from the urban industrial complexes of Europe and North

America. Today, the cities ofthird world remain heavily dependent on the advanced

capitalist world for technology and financial capital so much so ~at they are

automatically disadvantaged from an economic and industrial standpoint due to their

subordinate position in the international space-economy.

COLONIAL EXPANSION AND URBAN DIFFUSION

The process and pattern of urbanisation in the Indian Ocean Region countries

has been characterised by certain typical features usually unknown throughout the

history of urbanisation in the industrialised world. Though Latin America, Africa and

more particularly Asia have witnessed a long history of urban development and some

of their old towns and cities have now developed into large urban centres and

metropolises, nevertheless the broad outline of their existing with a particular design

to serve the colonial powers. The system was exploitive rather than developmental in

nature, facilitating the collection and exportation of primary products from and the

importation and distribution of manufactured goods within the region. The coastal

135

locations of many cities in the region indicate their long association with the colonial

dependency. One can easily recognise the core-periphery pattern of relationship

operating at the internationaL national and sub-national levels. In many smaller

nations, the national space is dominated by a single mega city, containing a

disproportionately large segment of the urban population with increasing degree of

primacy. The Indian Ocean Region countries today contain some of the largest and the

fastest growing metropolitan cites of the world, which invariably function as the prime

cities in their national space-economy.

Most pf the countries in this region bear, to a varying degree, the legacies of

about five centuries of European overseas expansion, lasting from the late fifteenth to

the mid twentieth century. This period may be divided into two distinct phases. During .,

the first phase (1450 to1800 A.D.) though European colonization and occupancy was

limited to the Americas, nevertheless, it laid the foundations for later expansion in

other parts of the world and the establishment of the core-periphery pattern at a global

scale. The second phase (1800 -1950 A.D.) of European penetration and expansion

was rather rapid and motivated by administrative and commercial considerations.

(In the history of the world-economy, there have been twelve formal imperial

states, only five of which have been major colonizers: Spain, Portugal and the

Netherlands (Principally between 1500 to 1750 A.D. ) and France and Great Britain

(from 1600 to 1925 A.D. ). Also in this first phase ( especially 1600 to 1750 A.D. ) are

the first minor colonizer states of the Baltic: Denmark, Sweden, and Brandenburg

/Purssia.

In the second wave. from 1870 Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA

136

and Russia enter as "late comers". For details see (Table: 111.1-Establishment of

Colonies ) below :

Table: 111.1-ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIES AREAS OF THE FIRST PHASE

S.No. NameofColony 1 Iberian America-----2 Greater Caribean 3 Norfnem America 4 ~- Africar1Port

· s-- lnaian-P'~o .. rt __ _

6 E<ist Indies

Time Penoa-·--. 150b-=-f80(f -- --.

1500-1880-1925 1600-f80b-=11f5d-i

. --· --1500-=1850-- ~

. 1500-1800 1500-1925 __ __

AREAS OF SECOND PHASE

s. No. -- Name of the Colony --7 ·lncfian-Ocean Islands

---8 Australia - -9-·lnteriorlnaia ---1 o-lndO-Chin~~------

11--lnterior Afiica -12 ·Meaeferrimean

13 P-ecific t>cean-lslands--14 ·o1ines Port~--T5-Arabia ·-- ----

Time-Period --16'0o:1900 ___ _ 175o~r925 ______ --

175o-=19~--: ----- 1-850-1900

1825-1925 1500-1925 1750-=1925 __ _

'1500-1925 ·--- 1800-1925

Source: Taylor, P.J.,(/985), Political Geography, World Economy: Nations, State and Locality, London, Longman,pp.82-84

The fifteen regions are listed in the above tables with the period of colonization

shown according to broad 50 years bands for the first phase and 25 year bands for the

second phase. These areas covered most of the world, the major exception being China

though even here, the leading core states delimited their spheres of influence. (Fig.

111.2- Main European Settlements in lOR in the 18111 Century)

The main economic function of these colonies was the production of mineral

and agricultural products and raw materials, and hence, the focus was rural, the

137

THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION MAIN EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE 18th ·CENTURY

ARABIAN SEA

~ SEYCHELLES

D VIZAGAPATAM

~YOFBENGAL f1 MADRAS r

PONOICHERRY j

cOcHIN TRAN~u-e8AR ~ ANJENGO A_JAFFNA

•" COLOMBO~ GALLE

INDIAN OCEAN

: MAURITIUS ( BOURBON )

LA REUMON LEGEND

0 PORTUGUESE a BRITISH

0 DUTCH

l( FRENCH

• ADEN INDIGEN PORT

e DANISH

FIG. Ill .2

138

manifestations of colonialism were equally urban. First, in the political, administrative

and economic role of its cities and towns in their function of central and surplus

extraction, subsequently, in their increasing significant role as market centres for

consumption and theatres of accumulation.

Europe and its overseas territories covered about 55 percent ofthe land surface

of the globe in 1800. This proportion increased to 67 percent in 1878. It was 84

percent in 1924 and increased even further in 1939. The European expansion created

an international world order based on unequal relationship with Europe as the centre

and the rest of the world as the dependent periphery. ( Fig. 111.3- Indian Ocean

Region In 1815 A.D.)

THE COLONIAL URBAN SYSTEM

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the colonial urban system was

extensive. It linked the interior of countries to their parts and ports both to each other

and the metropolis. It was the system by which many countries were brought into the

capitalist world economy. It provided the nodal transportation links for the import and

export of goods and services and was the network for distinctively colonial forms of

international labor migration. It established labor markets, but also, with the

transformation of old ~nd the creation of new environment, it provided the physical

and spatial infrastructure for the restructuring of social, cultural and political order

creating centres for new modes of consumption and the transformation, through

modernization and commodification of social, cultural and political consciousness

(Table:III.2-Major cities Colonial Urban System, During 1800 and 1900).

OTTOMAN EMPIRE -------...

l39

THE INDIAN OCEAN RE:GION IN 1815 A.D.

\ \ \

' \

PERSIAN

EMPIRE

ARABIAN SEA

AFGHANS

l ·•;~u~

PENANG (B) • ..6:4

• "<,~LAKA(B) BENCOOLEN • ' ' ) ~

i SEYCHELLES (B) .

AC:H ~<.,~MALAY~SATES Wlj)

BATAVIADI ~ 0 C E AN ~- ...

~·~~~ .. -~, ~ V 1TIMOR (P)

INDIAN COMOROS

_jJ KINGDOM

) I MAURITIUS ( B•

OF II •

MADAGASl<AR LA REUNION (F) v LEGEND

SPANISH RULE

DUTCH RULE

~ OMANIRULE

looool PORTUGUESE RULE

~ BRITISH RULE

FIG. III .3

TABLE: 111.2- MAJOR CITIES IN THE COLONIAL URBAN SYSTEM - (DURING 1800 AND 1900)!

1~0

Colony ___ J Date of Incorporation j ___ Majo~ _Cities____ _~--Population in i Pre 1800 ! Pre 1900 ! Pre 1800 , Pre 1900 ; 1900 ~n_ (~~

-- ---------i------__j· ,------· "!" ---· ---EUROPE i : : : _ ___ _ ____ _

Gibratter 170•f - ~-- ·- -----:~ratter-- -· --- -----~-- - 25 Malta ____ --: 1BOO ----·--- - ------- -,------vale-tta- --- . ----;- so-Cyprus ____ --- ----~ -----~=-~- _ -f8?~ 1 ___ N~~sia ----~-~~-- ----- -- i _ -~- 1f~_

ASIA ; ------~--

~_de_n___ -~- --·-t=---==-j=-==1838 : Aden ! ______ --+---·------:---=-42-=-=------= India 1 1612 i I Calcutta 1 I 1027 __ _ _ ____ -~-=-=-~---- j Bombay • ~~------~~~~===:=----·:7:7-:6-=-~------1

Madras I I 509 ---- -·j ----D-e-lh-i--+l-------,--20_9 _____ _ ·- -----------· --------.---------- ----

127 Colombo I ---~---:::------~- _, -------+~------

1796 CeyiC?_n_ Straits Settlements

! Penang i -~-=-- --- -------r-------"'-------; ----·-::-----.---- --- ---- -----· -

1 Singapore : 512

! ' Malacca *

*

Brunei Brunei

AFRICA Capetown I Capetown 1· 79

23 i Port Elizabeth 1

I Durban 27 18

; i 1856 I

Natal Pietermaritzburg

Transvaal ! 1900 Pretoria 12

I I East London 7 Basutoland I 1868 Bechuanaland I 1868 Vryburg 8 Rhodesia ! 1888 Salisbury • Central Africa/ I Blantyre •

; 1889 I I Zomba • Nyasaland

i 1664 I 1787 I I I 1

BathurSt I Freetown I

14 •

Gambia

1868 I ! Gold Coast/ I Accra •

(Ghana) I i ' i 1861 1 Lagos 33 Lagos ' ' 1886 i i

I i Nigeria I 1888 I I I Mombasa • East Africa/

with Uganda i

1888 Zanzibar Zanzibar ·~----------------------~~--~------

l 30 i --:.------1 Somali/and Berbera 1884

-----~------ --.-

1673 S_t._H_e-le-na_______ ----------- ------ St. Helena/

- ·------- ----- ---------- -- -Ascension 1815

( ~~r:!lestownL Georgetown

4 •

P-ortT-ouis- -· - - -6"5 ____ --··- - ----- -- ----Mauritius 1810

Source: Extracted from Anthony D.King,(1990), Urbanism, Colonialism and the World Economy, Routledge, London

TABLE: 111.2- MAJOR CITIES IN THE COLONIAL URBAN SYSTEM (DURING 1800 AND 1900) 1~1

NORTH AMERICA Canada 1623

Newfoundland 1583 _________ ...;..,._ ________ --------

SOUTH AMERICA 1

: ----- · ·-··Montreal-- -r--- -~268 -- · ---Toronto ! 208

--- -- - •. - - ------ j____ ----------- --~--

Quebec : 69 Ottawa Halifax

St. John's

l- ----60 ---1 41·--

I 31 L---·----1 I

1803 British Guiana Georgetown I 49 1-:F=-a-::lk-:-/a_n_d,---------,-, ------- --- -f8_3_3-----~ . --- - -- - ·--=P,-o-rt--"s<-ta-n-:-le-y-+1-T-ot-al-ls-la....:nd-Po_p __ 2--1 l---=-==-=:----:c:-:=-:c=-=- --'----------·- -·------·--· ·- . ----·

WEST INDIES ; Hamilton I

t---------;-----.,...,--~-~ ------ -~---~----- .. -· --------------l.------1 Bermuda ! 1609 2 !-:=--:---------'------------------ ··- ---,-·-·-:-::----+---:.:.__---1

Nassau Bahamas 1670 , * Jamaica ------r 1629 I Kingston

---------- ---;--_.::....::._::_.:.__-+------1 ! *

St. John/ !

(Antigua) 1626 * Leeward Islands :

St. George's/ 1605 i I i * Windward Islands !

~--

Grenada I l I --Barbados I 1605 I ! Bridgetown *

Port of Spain 1797 i I Trinidad & Tobago I 34 I

I

Belize 1783 ; Honduras I 7 AUSTRALIA ~,-----~----------~----~----~

i

Sydney 1-:-:--~-~--+.---~-------------------4-----~ New South Wales ; · 1787

Melbourne I Perth i

Adelaide I Brisbane I

I *

~----·----:-:-:--~--_J___ _____ --1 Hobart I Wellington I

Auckland I I

* Fiji __ 1_87_4____ Suva 1

·British-New GutneaT------...,.--__ -_-_-1_8_8_4 ___________ ~' Port Moresb_y_l!------.--- ---Cook Archipelago ; 1888 [ R-a--ra-to_n_g_a-<.......+1---.---

Source: Extracted from Anthony D.King,(1990), Urbanism, Colonialism and the World Economy, Routledge, London

1~2

A glance at the cities and countries in this S)'Stem indicate both the historic

and present importance of these cities in the development of both Britain economy, its

subsequent ethnic composition and culture as well as the larger world system.

Though the events of the colonial period were of fundamental importance in

helping to shape the present patterns of urban growth and urbanisation, nevertheless

the roots of urban growth in the countries of Indian Ocean Region extend back to

much earlier periods. Parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia had strong pre-colonial

urban traditions and highly developed indigenous cultures and technologies.

Some of these areas were pre-developed. Although the imprint of pre-colonial

urbanisation is still apparent in many cases, and remain significant, within the present

day urban mosaic, a very large number of the most important contemporary cities in

this region were colonial creations6. In almost all parts, the arrival of Europeans

eventually led to the foundation of new towns and cities which were dominate the

emerging settlement system.

Colonial rule was imposed on much of the Indian Ocean Region countries and

other third world countries at and very different period of time. (Fig. 111.4 -

Comparative Periods of Colonial Rule ) Occupation started in Latin America in the

sixteenth century but the independence had been gained by all parts of the mainland by

the first quarter of the nineteenth century, before the colonial phase had really got

under way elsewhere. Trading posts and refueling forts were established on the west

6 Dawyer, D. J.,edt. ( 1986), The City in the Third World. Macmillan. London, pp.15

__ ... I .. I

I I I

. I

I I I I I I I I

1550

COMPARATIVE PERIODS OF COLONIAL RULE

ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

MAINLAND

LATIN AMERICA

. STEAM SHIPS RAILROADS CARS

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

PANAMA CANAL

CUBA WEST INDIES

I I I .I

• I I I

-I- - - - -- - - ., - --- - -I I : I I I I· I I I.

I I .I I I I I I I I I - I

.. 1------~----- -r ----I 1 I

I

1600 1650 1700

I I I I I I I I

1750

I I

. I

I I I It I

1800

TIME PERIOD

I I. I I I :SUEZ CANAL!

:. II I INDIAN

SUB CONTINENT

BRITISH GOVERNMENT

1850 1900 1950 ..... "' c.r.;

FIG. 111.4

and south coast of Africa and around the Indian Ocean Region coastal countries. At

about the same time as the incursions of the Spaniards and Portuguese in America.

However, for India the real colonial thmst dates from the mid-nineteenth century and

occurred later still, between the 1880s and the tum of the century in Africa. The most

enduring colonies have tended to be small and isolated, such as the Island in the

Caribbean. The Pacific and the Indian Ocean on strategic locations on the principal

sea routes or on doorsteps of powers it was not possible to colonize.

As a matter of fact the oceanic contact of the West European and col.onial

rulers with India and South Asian countries of the Indian Ocean Region commenced

with the discovery of a sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope by V asco-da­

Gama in November, 1497. This opened the floodgates for the movement of West

European, French, Spanish, Portuguese and British ships to the Indian Ocean and for

the establishment of their trading posts and factories in East African, Indian, the

Persian Gulf and South and South East Asia. These trading posts eventually led to the

rise of the Portuguese, British and the French colonial empires in the countries of

Indian Ocean Region. Politically, the Indian Ocean came to be dominated by the

British, who had established control on the Gulf, Burma and East and Central

Rhodesia. The political hegemony of Britain over India, Malaya and Kenya led to the

movement in the early 20th century of cheap Indian labor for plantation and railway

construction in Malaya and middle level urban services in Kenya. Since, the 1960s

when most of the African countries and South East Asian states gained their

independence, the political contacts among the Indian Ocean States have intensified

either through the Non-Aligned movement or the organisation of Islamic States, or the

1~5

Group of Seventy Seven in the United Nations. But economic interaction has not

improved proportionately. The colonial powers still retain their economic hold as the

international trade of the countries of the Indian Ocean Region is largely with their

respective former colonial powers.

CHARACTERISTICS OF COLONIAL URBAN SYSTEM

On the comprehensive analysis of process of colonial urbanization (King,

A.D.,1990) has identify some thirty features in a stud/, that were seen to characterize

the colonial urbanisation and city. These can be classified into seven categories

referring broadly to the Geopolitical, Functional, Political I economic, Political, Social

I Culture, Racial I Ethnic and Physical features of city and can described as follows:

GEOPOLITICAL

1. External origins and orientation.

FUNCTIONAL

2. Centre'·of colonial administration (some exception to this);

3. Multiplicity of functions, with presence of banks, agencies

houses, insorance companies etc.;

4. Focus of communication network;

5. Acts as economic intermediary-symbolized by corrugated iron godown (or

wherehouses)

POLITICAL I ECONOMIC

6. Dualistic economy, dominated by non- indigenes.

7. Presence of large group of indigenous unskilled and semi

skilled migrants workers (that see the colonial city as alien community)

7 Anthony, D. King, ( 1990). Urbanism, Colonialism and the World Economy, Routledge, London, pp.131-132.

8. Municipal ~pending distorted in favour ofcolonial elite.

9. Dominance oltertiary sector.

10. Parasitic relations vvith indeginous and rural sector.

POLITICAL

11. Eventual formation of indigenous bureaucratic nationalist elite.

12. Indirect rule through leaders of various communities.

SOCIAL I CULTURAL

1~6

13. Social polarity between superodinate expatriates and subordinate

indigenous.

14. Caste-like nature of urban society;

15. Hetrogenous dual, or plural society with three major components:-

(a) Elite formed by residents of colonial I imperial power

with extremely derived authority based on military force;

(b) Intervening groups that originate form social mixing and

in migration from other colonial or semi-colonial

territories (e.g overseas Chinese)

(c) In-migrated indigenous resident group consisting of

educated modern intelligentsia and modernising elites, as

well as uneducated ethnic groups, tribes clans etc.

16. Occupational strat!fication by ethnic groups

17. Pluralistic institutional structure:

18. Residential segregation by race:

19. Large groups of unskilled indigenous and semi-skilled migrants

labour.

RACIAL I ETHNIC

20. Racial mixing:

21. Occupational stratification by ethnic groups:

22.Racial, residential, segregation.

1~7

PHYSICAL I SPATIAL

23. Coastal or riverine site:

24. Establishment at site of existing settlement:

25. Gridiron pattern of town planning combined with racial segregation

26. Urban form dictated by "western" models of urban design;

27. Specific character of residential areas;

28. Residential segregation between exogenous elite and indigeno inhabitants;

29. Large differences in population densities between areas of

colonial elite and indigenous population, impacting life style an quality of life;

30. Tripartite division between indigenous city, civil and military zone.

According to these, the unique features of colonial city are apparently these:

1. Power ( economic, social, political ) is principally in the hands of a

non-indigenous minority, the rights of the colonized are either nil or

very restricted.

2. This minority is superior in terms of military, technological and

economic resources and as a result, in social organistion.

3. The colonized majority are racially ( or ethnically ) culturally and

religiously different from the colonists who are culturally European and

by religion nominally Christian. While other suggested characteristics

can be found in "non-colonial cities" ( e.g. cultural pluralism,

occupational stratification by ethnic groups, large groups of

indigenous unskilled labor ), what distinguishes the colonial city is the

degree of scale to which the characteristics listed are manifest, and their

combination in a particular urban ensemble. They also become the

interest, when compared to the characteristics attributed of the

developing "world cities".

The present analysis focussed on the subversive role played hy colonial

expansion in the Indian Ocean Region rather than relying on a mechanic comparison

between the past experience of Europe and the present situation among the countries

1~8

of the Indian Ocean Region. Since the process of urbanisation in the Indian Ocean

Region is integrally linked with European development, the historical process

involved in the incorporation of these societies into the world capitalist order instituted

by Europe during the era of imperial hegemony must be examined. Hence, if we are to

gain a clear understanding of the process of Indian Ocean Region urbanisation, it is

imperative to formulate a socio-historical paradigm which can analyse the each and

every aspects of colonial system of urbanisation in this region.

To this end we have promulgated a paradigm, which breaks the Indian Ocean

Region's urbanisation into three distinctive phases the Pre-colonial,. Colonial and

Post-Colonial. It may be possible to some extent that this ;framework may be too·

general to take into account. But historically, however, there is one overriding

' common thread that binds all Indian Ocean Region together as a singular

manifestation, i.e. their European colonial experience. Even though the mode of

colonialism as well as colonial cultural domination varied depending upon the

colonizer, the core objective of all colonizers was the same: to exploit both natural

and human resources of the colonies for their benefits. Because of this shared history

of colonialism- the overarching force that produced what one may call a "Geography

of Imperialism" in which the diverse regions of the vast world are inter-connected as

network under an empire-we find the proposed construct to be well-grounded.

THE PRE-COLONIAL AND EARLY URBAN GROWTH

The term "Pre-colonial" defines the time period prior to European expansion,

which generally occurred after 1500 A. D. Thus the pre-colonial city js that city

which existed before the European penetration. It was indigenous and generally

characterized by what can be considered a feudalistic or pre-capitalistic socio-

economic structure and theoretic value system.

There is a little doubt that the development of cultivation technology provided

a major impetus for population concentration within a certain spatial matrix. Most

clearly cities, especially in the riverine civilisation regions, generally emerged in areas

where residents developed a land and water utilization technology; where the

physiographic conditions were suitable for agriculturists to produce more food than

they need to subsist; and where the state of social labor and organisation enabled a

section of the population to concentrate surpluses within certain areas. The urban

centres represented a distinctive socio-spatial entity, "the residential form adopted by

those members of society whose direct presence at the places of agricultural

production was not necessary. In the later phase of the pre-colonial city, town dwellers

basically considered of two distinctive groups of people. The first group comprised

non-productive specialists working full time. They were the administrative and

religious elite's and functionaries,, who specialized in cultural activities, such as

writing at art, developed social codes and appropriated surpluses from agriculturists by

systematizing religious control and the distribution of irrigation water. The second

group was the working artisan and "mercantile" class those who, once freed from the

daily dependence on the land, became engaged in non-agricultural activities, for

instance trading and producing crafts and tools.

Early urban forms created a spatial expression of a social class system, with a

distinct hierarchical structure. As in the present time, the pre-colonial city represented

some form of social as well as spatial exploitation in order to support the theoretically­

oriented elite's, located in the urban centre. After all, wholly egalitarian societies, with

150

all activities based on reciprocal relations, did not and could not produce cities.

Geographically, the city was the physical locus of civilization and, historically, it was

conterminous with rise of early civilization. "The grander the empire the grander the

size and number of its cities" 8.

The rise of early cities and civilizations required a progressive march of

technological forces. Technology was the main artery of urban transformation. When

its progressive march through time and space came to a halt, urban growth faltered,

some times becoming functionally defunct. The most important role of technology was

to improve labor I resources productivity and hereby expand the base of socio­

economic surplus, which was essential to propel both cities and civilization to a higher

plateau.

With the passage oftime, early cities expended functionally, some emerging as

maJor intellectual centres e.g. Benaras, Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad, others, for

instance Jennejeno m Mali and Tepe Yahaya in Iran, flourished primarily as-trade

centres, facilitating the transfusion of ideas and products between peoples and places.

Now agricultural activities and products also expanded. The need to dispose of surplus

products initiated a remarkable system of distribution providing market outlet for

exchange of goods and trade, which sometimes occurred in far away places.

In order to operate etfectively as a full t1edged government, early cities needed

a regular dependable revenue base. This led to the creation of system of taxation and

~ Sjoberg, G. ( 1963), The Rise and tall of cities : A Theoretical Perspective, International Journal of

Comparative Sociology, No.4.

151

redistribution of products in the form of tributes. Despite all these achievements, early

cities across Asia as well as Africa remained pre-capitalist in their mode of production.

Since the boundaries and networks of their commerce were generally limited in scope,

they were unable to assume economic authority at the global scale before European

mercantilism distorted their growth and choked the life out of their indigenous tech­

economic progress.

Priorities were different, one common feature of early cities, regardless of their

locational and cultural diversities was that, the most important basis of power and

existence was religion. Elite's, therefore promoted religion to legitimize their power

base and to strengthen their positions. As a justification of their religio·us roles and

administrative authority, elite's invariably used scarce surplus for such economically

unproductive activities, as erecting extravagant monuments and temples and

celebrating lavish religious rituals and festivals.

Lack of productive surpJus investment prevented pre-capitalist cities from

germinating a cumulative development process that would set production and

transportation technology innovations into motion leading to the advancement of

automated mechanical process. Consequently, economic growth floundered and the

petty-bourgeois mercantile class could not blossom into a prosperous and aggressive

bourgeoisie, the most important agent of economic change. In short, the mode of

production remained feudalistic failing to evolve into the capitalist stage. The

technological inventions and innovations China and India had achieved remained un­

automated. Ironically, European freely, borrowed many of their innovations,

improved upon them and used them for their benefit, because China and India had not

li2

patented their early inventions probably the concept was first introduced in Europe

after 1400 A.D., but commonly practiced there only after 1600 A.D. Europeans had

cost-free access to their inventions.

This is not to imply that, the pre-colonial city would have remained frozen in

the dark hole of the feudalistic, theoretic structure and never set the stage for

capitalism to emerge. But before the pre-colonial city could pave the way for

capitalism, waves of European invasion swept across the globe. It was these waves of

European invasion that proved to be the· most decisive factor in preventing the

emergence of indigenous capitalism and finally setting in motion what Frank termed

"that development of under development" of today's third world.

The European mercantilist expansion aggravated the internal degenerating

process before it could be corrected, ultimately culminating in the functional paralysis

of pre-colonial cities. The existing economic structure was distorted. As western

mercantile and maritime technology exerted its superiority, Europeans began to

command both sea routes and the regional patterns of trade, driving the local and

regional traders out of the markets. They established trading outposts and "coastal

towns" which later became colonial cities. It is through these new coastal towns that

the European firmly established their monopoly over trade and commerce all over the

world by the end of the mercantilist epoch around 1750 A.D. Wherever, European

mercantilism penetrated, it destroyed the craft and all earlier stages of industrial

development attained by local artisans. It resulted in the victory of Euro-centred

commercial coastal cities over indigenous urban system and cultures and eventually

the division of the international space-economy into the dominant western centre- and

163

the subordinate third world periphery.

In summary, such European violence ofthe indigenous economic structure and

production processes thwarted the transition from the feudal mode of production into

the capitalist mode. Instead of a transition into economically and technologically

vibrant cities in the manner that occurred in Europe, the deliberate and artificial

implantation of colonial city caused severe and lasting damage to the pre-colonial

phase of urbanisation.

THE COLONIAL AND DISTORTED URBANIZATION

Cities and civilization of Indian Ocean Region countries, flourished centuries

before Europe emerged from its "Dark Ages" from these early centres of human

civilization, the concept of the city diffused to Europe and then tens of centuries later

returned in the form of the colonial city. Which was to have such a radical impact and

For ever alter the urban character of these ancient regions9. European pre-eminence as

well as pre-emptive advantages are tied to both internal and external fa~tors.

Internally, pre-existing feudal relations of productions broke in Europe paving

the way for the capitalistic mode of productions through the introduction of large scale

agriculture. This development displaced a multitude of subsistence but self-sufficient

rural proprietors, peasants and tenants from the land. In turn these labors turned to

town-b<tsed non-agricultural industries for support. This labor force provided a home

based consumer market, one that created demand for farmers produce as well as

manufactured goods. These migrants helped to stabilize wages and produce social

9 Williams, J.F.et. all, (1983), World Urban Development, in Cities of the world, edt., Brunn S.D. and

Williams,J.F., New York, Harper and Raw, pp.l6

16~

surplus an important source of capital accumulation through their participation in the

economic system based on creating exchange value. All these elements aided the

process of dynamic urban growth in Europe and allowed expanding European cities to

gain political economic independence from the fetter of feudalism.

The basis for the sustained prosperity and progress of European cities,

however, awaited: first overseas mercantilist expansion including the slave trade and

their colonial domination following the industrial revolution. During the mercantilist

phase Europeans established port cities to attain commercial domination over foreign

territories. Franz Fanon and Lin Piao described these port cities as colonial outposts

facilitating mercantilist trade and commerce 10•

Amin 11 argues that European trading houses gained total control of trade flows

and directed them towards the coastal towns by systematically eliminating domestic

trade and then reducing local traders-where, they were not eradicated to the role of

subordinate primary collectors.

Mercantilist pursuits, along with the transatlantic slave trade, generated

immense wealth which was invested in European cities accelerating their growth in the

17th and 18th centuries. The bounties received from overseas raised European

standard of living significantly and financed scientific research. As already pointed

out, such expansion also yielded other vital rewards in that European explorers and

1° Fanon Franz, ( 1963), The Wretched of the Earth, New York, Grove Press.pp.l6.

11 A min, Samir, ( 1972), Underdevelopment and Development in Black Africa-Origin and Contemporary Forms, Journal of Modem African Studies, No.I 0,

165

mercantilists detailed accounts of the scientific and technological discoveries made by

Non-European countries provided addition impetus for the advancement of science in

Europe. The process quickened the pace of European technological advances, finally

resulting in the epoch-making industrial revolution in the mid 18th century.

The industrial revolution ameliorated the urban growth process of Europe,

even more dramatically. The revolution brought the capitalist mode of production to

full maturity. The institutional economic policy shifted from mercantilism to

liberalism. Labor mobility increased, cities grew, urban manufacturing expanded at a

rapid pace. Demand for raw material increased to keep Europeans industrial machine

humming. As a resource poor region, Europe had to rely on foreign territories to

supply necessary resources.

Global search for foreign resources, labor and markets resulted in great

competition and conflicts among the industrial power of Europe: England, France,

Ge_rmany etc. In order to minimise competitive interference from other industrial

powers the Europeans embarked on an empire-building missions in the form of formal

colonialism-the second phase of European expansion.

It was no accident that colonialism proved to be Europe's most decisive attack

against the Non-European world and its peoples. It was one ofthe most dehumanizing

and ravaging forces in world history. It entirely changed the course of history of both

Europe and every country that was brought under European control 12. While this

12 Rodney, Walter, (1974), How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Washington, D.C., Harward

University Press, pp. 70.

!56

I

global expansion lifted European cities to grand heights. as the leading metropolises of

the world, its countervailing pull distorted urbanization in the countries ·of Indian

Ocean Region of European control. The globe no longer remained divided into

dependent economic entities; it was unified into a world economy with Europe

directing the show like a ring master. Under the European colonialism, the Non-

European world was turned in to a theater of massive labor and resource plunder, the

out come being the emergence of the "Geography of Imperialism" in its fully

developed form. And the colonial city stood as the most important cultural economic

and political symbol of this New Geography, i.e. European subjugation of the world.

In addition to exploiting human resources in a dehumanized manner and

recklessly ravaging natural resources, which actually sowed the seeds of many of

today's colonial world and affected countries of Indian Ocean Region environmental

problems. Europeans increasingly flooded local markets with the imports from their

motherlands. As a result, domestic industries such as weaving and craft operations

could not compete; they became obsolete. Whenever, Europeans encounters resistance

to their operations, they engaged in mischievous activities such as opium smuggling in

China. Europeans routinely deployed gunboat diplomacy, imposing their rule on

resisting countries. In fact, in many cases the colonies were forbidden to produce

anything that was already being made in the mother country. The Europeans

monopolized virtually everything. One famous example is the salt monopoly, the

British held in India. Indians were prohibited hom producing even a few ounces of

salt in their own ocean. Such monopolistic practices by Europeans not only

157

demoralized the colonized peoples, but caused a systematic erosiOn of the local

technological foundations including agriculture. As a result, the third world city during

the colonial stage became more than just an entreport fixture. Europeans deployed

colonial cities as gateways, spatial channels of resources, labor, market exploitations.

\._As a result of colonial distortion, most colonial cities later emerged as the

primate cities of the 20th century, exercising political and economic power and

functions tied to European interests. Commercial function expanded significantly, but

economic . specialization was usually confined to the operation of mines and

plantations producing raw materials and other primary products to accommodate

Europe's urban and industrial needs. Whatever the industrialisation occurred in the

colonial cities, it was mostly associated with the raw materials processing for example

jute processing in Calcutta, cotton in Bombay and meat in Bunes Aires. Railroads

were constructed but they connected only the resources extraction points e.g. mine and

plantations, in the interior with the colonial enclave, port ~ity designed to transship

them. Overall, the colonial city remained economically subordinate to the metropolis

and the world trade.

To summaries, the colonial city in this era emerged as the full time spatial

agent of European imperialism, facilitating its trade and acting as the gateway for the

export of primary products from the colony, and the import of manufactured goods.

Because of such colossal distortion of colony's economic structure and urbanisation

process, the colonial city was deformed, totally incapable of laying the ground work

for the development of indigenous capitalism.

liS

POST COLONIAL AND DEPENDENT URBANIZATION

The post colonial urbanization and colonial phases are basically the same. Its

change in status from the colonial to the post colonial is a result of national

independence from colonialism. Compared to the structural upheaval experienced by

the pre-colonial urbanization during its transformation, the colonial city underwent

little fundamental restructuring during its transition into the post colonial city. The

only real change political liberation brought in these cities was the substitution of

European rulers by local elite's, generally educated in the "mother country". It still

remains succumbed to the vicissitude of its colonial past. Even though the "Geography

of Imperialism" in the form of formal colonialism may no longer exist, the basic

global economic role of this geography has under gone little alteration. Only the

modus operandi has changed.

Like its predecessor, the post-colonial process of urbanization and city is much

more closely linked with. the economic trends and processes in the advancement

capitalist world than with its own local hinterland, thus accentuating its internal

parasitic role and external dependent relation 13. Overall, the contemporary cities of the

third world, may be characterized that they are the "hybrid institution" formed in past

as a response to the impact made upon less advanced countries by their integration into

the world economy . .. In the post-colonial cities of the Indian Ocean Region, one can observe a clear

13 Smith, D. A. (1985), International Dependence and Urbanization in East Asia: Implications for

Planning, Population Research and Policy Review, No.4.

juxtaposition of indigenous value system and system imposed on them from outside.

This contradiction is reflected by the operation of what is commonly known as the

"formal sector" and the "informal sector". The capacity of informal sector to absorb

incoming rural migrants seems infinitely elastic. Its widespread existence can be

viewed as a product of the contradictory nature of foreign capitalist penetration. A

large expanse of capitalist encroachment has deeply affected the socio-economic,

political and cultural systems of the third world leaving them in a state of perpetual

underdevelopment and dependency.

These theoretical arguments provide an important framework m which to

explain the contemporary process of urbanization in the Indian Ocean Region (lOR).

While socio-economic contradictions and inequalities, which are inherent to capitalism

are omen present, the dynamic, self generating forces also associated with the

capitalist development are largely absent in most post-colonial cities, despite the deep­

rooted presence of multinational corporations (MNC).

The nationalism and political decolonization after achieving independence

across Asia and Africa in the post colonial period specially after the World War II ,

sent a shock waves throughout the advanced countries loomed as to whether

decolonization would cut off 'colonizer countries' access to third world raw materials

and market. This was the serious _concern, especially given the influence of communist

ideologies in the anti-colonial movements. In response to these potentially volatile

new developments, advanced capitalist countries, led by United States of America,

devised a foreign aid policy under the rubric of international economic cooperation

160

and development. This policy was formulated specially to play an important role in

third world nation's development processes and to guarantee access to their resources

and markets. Baran, P. President Truman's Secretary of States, Dean Acheson stated14:

"as a security measure, it (foreign aid) is an essential arm of our foreign policy. Our

military and e~onomic security is vitally dependent on the economic security of other

peoples. Economic development will bring us certain practical materials benefits. It

will open up new sources of material and goods we need, and new markets for the

products of our farms and factories. Our friends in Europe, who depend more than we

do on foreign goods and markets, will benefit in similar ways"

One key ingredient that came with the foreign aid package was development

planning, probably the most important policy initiative pursued by developed

countries in the third world in the post colonial period. The colonizer countries sent

aid (some grants but largely loar~s) for development. It is a matter of coincidence that

the colonizer countries set these new third world coUntries on the path of

development. Answers to these can be politically charged and vary according to the

interpreter's ideological leanings. Nonetheless, one thing is clear: whether by desigri or

default, the outcome of this aid has been institutionalize third world dependence on the

developed countries and thwart the evolution of indigenous industrial capitalism15•

This has led to continued state control over the spatial, social and sectorial allocation

of resources and to legitimization of the authority of the ruling elite's and compradors

to determine the mode(s) of development.

14 Baran, P. ( 1973), The Political Economy of Growth, Middlesex, Penguin, pp. 300-40 I.

lGl

The cost of this strategy was high, but over all economic benefits were limited.

Certainly, growth occurred in large, coastal and capital cities, standing tall as

monuments to post colonial dependency, as a vivid symbol of neocolonial control of

the third world economy. In urban growth terms, urban planning has also had a

definite imprint on the contemporary urbanization process in the third world.

Following this paradigm, third word countries concentrated development resources in

large cities leading to what Lipton16 term as "urban bias". This pronounced urban bias

aggravated existing social, sectorial, and spatial imbalances rather than reversing the

process of economic underdevelopment. In other ·words, the prolonged neglect of

agricultura sector has crippled the economic viability of rural population and

agricultural areas, comprising 60-80% of the population in many countries of this

regiOn.

In essence, urban-biased planning produced what Soja and Tobin17 called a

"space-contingent" process of spatial polarization. The initial concentration of

resources or activities in cities typically generated unstable spatial dynamics. As a

result, both human and capital resources gravitated toward cities thereby leading to the

process of spatial economic involution rather than diffusion. These activities exerted

employment pressure on cities because of the inability of industrial growth to absorb

15 Bagchi, A.K. ( 1973), Foreign capital and Economic Development in India,: A Schematic View, in Imperialism and Revolution in South Asia, ed. Ghough. K. and Sharma, H.P. New York.pp. 16 Lipton, M. (1977), Why Poor People Stay Poor: A Study in Urban Bias in World Development, Cambridge, Harward University Press. 17 Soja, E. W. & Tobin, R. J. , ( 1977), The Geography of Modernization: Paths, Patterns and Processes of Spatial Change in Developing Countries, in Third World Urbanization, ed. Abu-Lughod, J. & Hay, R. , Chicago, Maaroufa,

162

migrants from the countryside and rural hinterlands. Castells 18 interprets this

mismatch as a natural outcome of the incongruous relation between what he calls "

dominant industrialization and dependent urbanization". He characterizes third world

urbanization as : an urban population unrelated to the productive level of the system;

an absence of a direct relation between industrial policy and urban growth; a strong

imbalance in urban network in favor of one predominating area; a lack of jobs and

services for the new urban masses and, consequently, a reinforcement of the ecological

segregation of social classes and a polarization of the system of stratification as far as

consumption is concerned.

CONCLUSION

From the analysis presented in this chapter, it is clear that urbanization have

fulfilled different and occupied different positions during different stages of their

evolution. One major focus of the analysis has been on the impact of European

intrusion on the region's urbanization and its role in national development. In this

regard, our explanations of contemporary urbanization in the region has relied on three

phenomenon (i} the colonial root, (ii) urban-industrial planning implemented in the

post-colonial era and (iii) imported industrialization.

The colonial root factor clearly shows how the cities m this regwn were

systematically incorporated into and subjugated to the world system dominated by

European powers, a tie that remains !ntact in the post-colonial stage. The distortion of

the process of urbanization in the Indian Ocean Region countries, caused by

colonialism, so deeply entrenched that its ability to play a constructive role in national

18 Castells, M., (1980), The Urban Question: The Marxist Approach, Cambridge, The MIT Press.

lGJ

development has been ruined. In fact, it is the colonial distortion and subsequent

dependency that lie at the root of the second and third explanations: urban industrial

planning and imported industrialization.

The urban-industrial process in the post-colonial city is so heavily dependent

on external investment, capital, technology and markets that in reality, it is imported

industrialization. As such, it has deepened the historically dominant dependent relation

between the advanced capitalist world and the countries of the Indian Ocean Region.

Because of this dependent relationship with the advanced capitalist world, the

post-colonial city is incapable of propelling the wheels of economic dynamism in a

manner that would disseminate through time and space benefiting the population and

the economy as a whole. In its current mould, the Indian Ocean Region countries

urbanization process therefore, represents an ineffective vehicle of progressive

economic change and development. The post-colonial city, like its predecessors is a

spatial agent C!f parasitic social process that has been solidified in the name of

development planning through a mutually beneficial alliance between national elates I

compressors and international monopoly capitais.

To conclude, there are basically only two choices; either live in perpetual

dependency, collecting crumbs and handouts hurled their way while advanced

countries enjoy the best fruits of their labor and natural resources or struggle hard now

and take control of their own future"destiny. As the cliche goes, "no pain, no gain".