Imperialism, Trade and Investment in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

The rise and fall of revenue farming took place in an economic and political context that was essentially similar across most of Southeast Asia. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the region was transformed by complex processes of economic expansion and state formation that derived from the trading ambitions and imperialist impulses of the industrialising countries of northern Europe and the United States of America. This chapter sketches the broad outline of three main forces at work in Southeast Asia in this period: the advance of Western administration, the expansion of trade and the inflow of investment. Readers acquainted with the modern history of Southeast Asia will find this familiar terrain. Nevertheless, it is necessary to be aware of the common context for the phenomena which are the focus of this collection of essays.