A year after the great African explorer Dr David Livingstone’s death in 1873, his friend Horace Waller published an edited version of his diaries. In his introduction to ‘The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to his Death’ Mr Waller remarks ‘Whilst in the Manyema country he ran out of note-books, [...]
Archive for the ‘Contemporary History’ Category
Deciphering Livingstone’s 1871 Field Diary
Posted in Contemporary History, Imperial History, tagged Africa, British Empire, East African Slave Trade, Imperial History, Livingstone, Livingstone 1871 Field Diary, Nyangwe Massacre, The David Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project on 16/11/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Earthquakes in Japanese Economic History
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, tagged Earthquake, GDP per Capita, Japan on 17/03/2011 | Leave a Comment »
Situated at the confluence of four tectonic plates, the islands of Japan is subject to a high level of seismic activity. Large scale earthquakes has historically occurred in fifty-year cycles with the most recent Tōhoku earthquake of 11th March 2011 also being the largest on record, measuring a magnitude of 9 Mw. Until the unfolding of [...]
Dominoes of Revolution
Posted in Contemporary History, tagged Africa, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia on 02/03/2011 | Leave a Comment »
The first months of 2011 has seen the fall of two autocratic regimes and the imminent toppling of a third. It is a period which will be on the receiving end of scrutiny by historians speculating in the causes of what is unfolding before our contemporary eyes in generations to come. In order to provide an [...]
Demographic Composition and Economic Development
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, tagged Baby Boomers, Demographics, GDP per Capita, Norway, Welfare State on 06/01/2011 | 5 Comments »
There is often a causal relationship between a country’s demographic composition and its relative economic performance. Ceteris paribus, the greater proportion of working age individuals in a population, the greater capacity a country has for production of goods and services relative to their commitments in terms of schooling, pensions, healthcare &c to the non-working generations. [...]
A Recurring Greek Tragedy
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, Imperial History, tagged Greece, Greek Debt Crisis, Lord Salisbury, Sir Edward Malet on 09/07/2010 | Leave a Comment »
The perils of relying upon debt to balance one’s books has been clearly demonstrated by the current financial crisis engulfing the Western economies. A particularly striking example is Greece, where revelations of gross misconduct on behalf of the state has transpired; a prolonged period of government debt-financed overspending leading to it’s rather unenviable current position [...]
Afghanistan Casualty Trend
Posted in Contemporary History, Violence, tagged Afghanistan, Intervention, Violence on 28/06/2010 | Leave a Comment »
An earlier article speculating in the causes for the intra-annual casualty trend: http://thecivilisingmission.com/2010/04/05/fighting-season-in-afghanistan/ Source: icasualties.org …
The ‘North-South Divide’, still relevant today?
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, tagged Economic Development, GDP per Capita, North South Divide on 12/05/2010 | Leave a Comment »
The sharp division between developed and developing countries is often described as the “North-South Divide.” The term was coined during the cold war as a way to geographically categorise countries on the basis of their socio-economic development level. With the rise of the Asian Tigers, Newly Industrialising Economies and not to mention Middle Eastern oil [...]
A Nigerian Oil Curse?
Posted in Contemporary History, Economic History, Violence, tagged Africa, Bonny Light, MEND Guerilla, Nigeria, Oil Curse, Oil Production on 30/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
There are often references being made to the oil curse, the supposed wretchedness of resource endowments that plunges developing countries into a never-ending spiral of internal strife and instability. The rationale is partially based upon the developing countries’ weak institutional framework which makes states harbouring valuable extractible resources susceptible to predation from external or internal [...]
The Sierra Leone Civil War
Posted in Contemporary History, Imperial History, Violence, tagged Africa, Conflict Diamonds, Imperial History, Intervention, Liberia, Misgovernment, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Civil War, Violence, War on 12/04/2010 | Leave a Comment »
As a direct consequence of the abolitionist movement’s campaigns in Britain, the settlement called Freetown was founded 1787 for emancipated slaves. Initially consisting of the so-called black poor from Britain and Nova Scotia, it later would become home for the liberated Africans captured by the British anti-slavery squadron. Assuming status as a crown colony in [...]
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