Developing the rivers of East and West Africa : an environmental history /
How did rivers contribute to the economic and political development of modern Africa? How did African and European notions of nature's value and meaning differ? And how have these evaluations of Africa's rivers changed between 1850 and the present day? Drawing upon examples from across the...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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London :
Bloomsbury Publishing,
2013.
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
Table of Contents:
- Cover; Title; Contents; List of abbreviations; Preface and acknowledgments; List of figures; Copyright; 1 Introduction: Harnessing Africa's waters; Africa's waterscapes; In search of Africa's watery past; Rivers and the colonization of Africa: The wide-angle view; Britain's colonial approaches; Debating development; Sources and scope of book; 2 Unpredictable blessings: Life along the Rufiji River, Tanzania; The creation of a riverine identity; Flooding and rainfall in the Rufiji floodplain; Waiting for the tide to turn; Balancing the opportunity and danger; Conclusion; PART ONE From the river's edge3 Mapping a continent: British exploration of the Niger River; To the Niger: The African Association and Mungo Park's expeditions; The quest continues: The expeditions of Hugh Clapperton and the Lander brothers; Macgregor Laird and the arrival of steamships; The anti-slavery expedition of 1841; Completing the puzzle: Baikie's 1854 expedition and the fever question; Conclusion; 4 Greening the fields: Agricultural development during the colonial period; Agricultural development initiatives in the British Empire; The colony that was a river: Agriculture in Gambia.
- Overcoming nature and man in Tanganyika's Lower Rufiji River basinStudying the Rufiji ecology; Assessing the causes of failure; Conclusion; PART TWO Colonizing Africa's rivers; 5 Electrifying the Empire: Debates about power production in Africa; Hydropower across the Empire; Hydropower in Britain; Hydrological surveys of imperial waterways; Moving toward hydropower in East Africa; Tensions in Kenya; Post-WWII development in East Africa; Public power production in Uganda; Politicization of dams; Conclusion; 6 The damming of Africa: Converting African water to hydropower; Ghana's Volta River ProjectConstructing the VRP; Tanzania's Stiegler's Gorge Project; Designing Stiegler's Gorge Dam; Dams reexamined; Conclusion; PART THREE The changing value of rivers; 7 Thirsty cities: Urbanization and the changing values of African rivers; Water and the development of Ghana's urban system; Kumasi; Cape Coast; Accra; A city between creeks: Developing Dar es Salaam's water supply; Ujamaa and urbanization; Conclusion; Epilogue: Managing Africa's rivers in the twenty-first century; Historical glossary; Bibliography; Index.