Civilizando la selva: capital, espacio y negocio forestal en la antigua Guinea continental española, c. 1926-1936

Abstract

This study examines the elements and processes that defined the development of the wood commercialization industry in Continental Guinea between 1926 and 1936. During this per iod an influx of Spanish capital resulted in the establishment of a limited number of companies that controlled the logging business in this Spanish colony. The implementation of a forest concession system reorganized the colony according to a logic of production involving the progressive accumulation of technical capital and the concentration of the native workforce. The intensification and mechanization of production as well as the expansion of the exploited forest surface consolidated the export profile of Continental Guinea, making wood the most important export product of the colony. Thus, the incor poration of the Spanish okoume to Northern European commercial circuits broke the monopoly that exports from the French colony of Gabon had until then.