Railroads in Senegal served military conquest before economic benefit

Evidence

This is the best available study of the Dakar-Saint-Louis railroad. According to Pheffer, the original reason for building the line in Senegal was to conquer the independent and hostile province of Cayor which lay between the ports of Saint-Louis and Dakar. The governor was nevertheless delighted when it boosted the colony’s trade as well. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 999

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels Milgrom’s point that institutions emerge first to solve other problems before enabling trade benefit.