class 2.2 Flashcards
purpose of colonial cities
extraction and exploitation of resources and wealth.
Juxtaposed with the metropolitan core of the colonizing power.
in colonial cities, a minority of colonial expatriates seek to dominate political, economic, and social spaces
the first city of all time and when
Roma in 753 BCE
URBANIZATION AS A TOOL OF ROMAN COLONIZATION
Fortified urban settlements in conquered areas
Towns built on a gridiron plan, like Londinium (London today)
Two main streets intersecting at the town centre
Central forum, temples, commercial spaces
Angus Maddison: 14% of Romans on the Italian peninsula & 8% of Romans in the provinces lived in urban areas
ROMAN ROAD NETWORK
- Enables travel over great distances
- Distances are standardized and recorded with mile markers
- Expands trade networks, regional specialization, military control.
10 criteria of an urban revolution recap
- Size and population density
- Social organization based on residence rather than kin networks
- Specialization of trades
- Trade over significant distances
- The emergence of a ruling class
- System of tithes to religious and political powers
- Large-scale public works
- Writing
- Science
- Aesthetic development
EMERGENCE OF A RULING CLASS in Rome
Patrician class holds power through hereditary means
The rest of Roman society are plebians and slaves
how does Anthony King, art historian and sociology describe the emergence of the colonial city
in two main waves of colonialism
“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 and 1750); and France and Great Britain, from 1600 to 1925. “ (King 1990, page 3)
“In the second wave, from 1870, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA enter as ‘late comers’…” (King 1990, page 3).
historical foundations of this world urban system
include the influence of European colonialisms” (King, 1990, p. 2).
include the influence of European colonialisms” (King, 1990, p. 2).
function of colonial cities
Function as nodes within imperial empires
–> Administrative and military centres, centres for export and trade, residential areas for settlers, performance spaces for power
Hierarchical relationship between the colonial city and metropolitan core.
- Colonial cities exist to enrich the
metropolitan core.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COLONIAL CITY
Physically organized to preserve the power of imperial actors.
- Racially segregated between colonizers and colonized.
- Colonists live in spaces planned according to European practices.
- The colonized live in more precarious, crowded areas.
BRITISH COLONIAL EXPANSION
London’s growth corresponds with colonial expansion (as much as it does industrialization).
Colonies provide raw materials for manufacturing.
Until 1800s all trade with the colonies is carried out with British shipping companies.
London and slavery
British merchants a major driver of slavery and the slave trade.
Referred to as Atlantic triangular trade.
Largest force migration in history.
London companies finance the slave trade; British navy ships patrol shipping routes to protect their ships.
By mid-1700s, ~15k Black servants live in
London, many slaves from the colonies.
Slavery in Britain abolished in 1833, but London’s financial institutions continue to profit in places where it’s ongoing.
SETTLER COLONIALISM
Focused on the permanent occupation of territory that is taken from Indigenous peoples to create new political and cultural entities.
This means places where decolonization never happened.
Distinct from colonial cities in places that achieved political independence.
Settler colonial systems are dominated by white European worldviews.
Governing authority of Canada is based on what?
based on physical colonization, and erasure of Indigenous ways of life
Adoption of the Indian Action in 1876
Expansion of towns and cities based on colonial legal system of Crown/private property.
Urbanization in Canada inextricably linked to dispossession of Indigenous Peoples.
the Indian Action in 1876
- Creation of reserves
- Criminalization/restriction of traditional ceremonies and economic activities
- Residential school system
