Tanganyika Railways

Railway systems formed the backbone of the colonial economies. In the industrialized nations the railways laid the foundations for an efficient infrastructure that connected markets and industries. However, in the colonial periphery the railways served one purpose: they were the cheapest transportation of exportable products. Until now, the role of the Tanganyika railways under colonialism has not attracted academic attention. This book contributes to the restoration of an important factor in Tanzania's colonial past by placing the railways in the broader context of colonialism and identifying their economic and social roles. It shows that the railways were forced into the financial policy of "credit peonage" that immediately blocked the modernization of infrastructure and equipment, and led to the employment policy of labor-intensive works and cheap African labor. From a development position the railways contributed nothing to industrial stimulation because locomotives, rolling stock, and other equipment were imported from Britain. Indeed, railway policy should be approached from state-financed incentives for metropolitan capital-goods industries, giving additional support to the classification of the Tanganyika railways as "Carrier of Colonialism."