Summary

Ethnic Chinese multinationals in the international grain trade before the Second World War, pp 4-18: Dr John Latham (University ofWales, Swansea) is the first of the seven authors in the inaugural volume of the journal. His article shows up the ethnocentric perception of most Western economic historians by looking at the international grain trade, which in the West is traditionally seen to be the movement of wheat. To the contrary he shows that rice is the most important food grain in the world. However, the two grains are not independent in world markets. He reveals that the linking of the rice market to the wheat market was one of the key features of international economic development in the late nineteenth century.

England, Holland and the capitalist commercial revolution of the seventeenth century, pp 19-41: Dr Stuart Jones (University of the Witwatersrand) looks at the similarities between the commercial revolutions in the Netherlands and England in the seventeenth century despite their difference in chronology. He emphasises: 1) the restructuring of trade within Europe, 2) the development of the colonial trade and 3) the creation of an institutional framework.

State and private enterprise in the development of the Cape wool-growing industry, pp 42-57: According to Prof Peter Wickins (University of Cape Town), the purpose of his article is to discuss whether, during the formative years of the wool-growing industry in the Cape, the policy of the colonial authorities was beneficial to it or whether it frustrated private initiative or whether it was simply irrelevant. His conclusion is that the state could not compete with private entrepreneurs and its abandoned efforts were of less significance than the combined efforts of progressive farmers.

The state and the development of the Cape 1795-1820, pp 58-76: Prof André Müller (University of Port Elizabeth) attempts to address the question whether the ending of the Dutch East India Company’s rule had any marked effect on the economic life and economic prospects of the Cape colony between 1795 and 1820. Contrary to the prevailing negative view, he shows that before 1820 the new colonial government indeed exhibited a much greater concern for the welfare of its subjects than had been the case under the Dutch.

Liverpool of the Cape: Port Elizabeth trade 1820-70, pp 77-89: Jon Inggs (University of South Africa) demonstrates the key role Port Elizabeth played in South African trade between 1820 and 1870 when agriculture was king and the mining revolution still something of the future. Port Elizabeth quickly rose to become the Cape’s most important trading port at a time when the Cape economy was dominated by the export of wool and inland transport depended on the ox wagon. The discovery of diamonds and gold, along with the onset of the railway age, heralded the beginning of the end. Eventually the “Liverpool of the Cape” was forced into the wings of South Africa’s economic stage.

The monetary and financial crisis of the Merina empire 1810-1826, pp 99-118: Dr Gwyn Campbell (University of the Witwatersrand) explores aspects of the monetary and fiscal crisis which affected the Merina empire in Madagascar in the early nineteenth century. By this he hoped to shed light on the policies of the Merina crown at a critical juncture in its relationships with both external and domestic powers. In a wider context, his article is intended to be a contribution to the economic history of Madagascar, a subject about which very little has been written.

The value of business archives with special reference to Barlow Rand’s archives, pp 119-25: In her article, Maryna Fraser (Group Archivist, Barlow Rand) illustrates the research value of old business records by describing the objectives and contents of the Barlow Rand Archives. The archives form a major part of the company’s programme to promote education and scholarship, and to stimulate an interest in South African business history. Unfortunately the situation has changed since that described in 1986 because of the subsequent unbundling of the Barlows group.