Taxation in colonial currency was designed to force conversion to capitalism.
Evidence
The taxation of the ‘indigenous’ certainly helped to raise revenue, but its main purpose was to forcibly convert local societies to the colonial capitalist system. The demonetisation of the cowries was imposed in 1922. Three years later, an amendment to the Code de l’indigénat – the legislation in force in the French colonial empire – introduced the obligation to use the French franc in trade transactions under the threat of penalties. In all, it took France almost 50 years to get the franc ‘accepted’ in its African colonies. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Such authoritarian measures were not always successful in overcoming local resistance. There were many reasons why the local populations were reluctant to adopt the French currency. Not only did they struggle to become familiarised with the singularity of the calculation system, but the coins were hard to store due to their small size, and the poor quality banknotes resembled pieces of cloth. But it was above all the association of the colonial currency with taxes that caused its rejection, as the colonial administration demanded that the innumerable taxes that oppressed the colonised be regulated in this currency. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58 (
#qualifies, via linked claim)
Far from marking the end of the ‘colonial pact’, the birth of the CFA franc favoured the restoration of very advantageous trade relations for France. The creation of this new currency also sanctioned the institutionalisation of a ‘principle of automaticity’: since the currency of the colonised territories was firmly pegged to that of the metropole, the colonies were deprived of the possibility of regulating the exchange rate of their currencies and therefore found themselves forced to passively endure the unilateral decisions of the metropole, which adjusted the external value of its currency according to its needs. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 78 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Currency arrangements can function as wealth-transfer mechanisms between societies.; Colonial taxation chiefly aimed to force locals into the colonial capitalist system — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58; The colonial currency’s association with taxes drove local resistance to it — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58 (+2 more)
Related
- Colonial taxation chiefly aimed to force locals into the colonial capitalist system (similarity 0.93)
- The colonial currency’s association with taxes drove local resistance to it (similarity 0.89)
- Currency pegging institutionalized a principle of automaticity removing colonial control over exchange rates. (similarity 0.87)
- Controlling currency was essential to the colonial appropriation of African riches (similarity 0.84)
- The CFA franc’s fixed peg forced colonies to absorb French devaluations helplessly (similarity 0.82)
- Currency arrangements can function as wealth-transfer mechanisms between societies. (similarity 0.81)
- An overvalued CFA franc was engineered to reorient colonial trade toward France (similarity 0.81)
- France imposed its currency partly to counter English trading dominance (similarity 0.80)
- The CFA franc’s parity was set without regard for local economic realities (similarity 0.80)
- Former African colonies adopted national currencies upon independence. (similarity 0.79)
- Colonial-era monetary system survived into independence as four interlocked principles (similarity 0.79)
- The colonial vertical-integration trade model persists despite reoriented trading partners (similarity 0.79)
- Monopsony and export duties drove African crop prices artificially low (similarity 0.79)
- CFA franc’s real aims were draining colonial wealth into France, not African progress. (similarity 0.79)
- African deputies publicly exposed the CFA franc as a tool of the colonial pact (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Colonial taxation chiefly aimed to force locals into the colonial capitalist system
#corroborates(0.95) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58 - The colonial currency’s association with taxes drove local resistance to it
#qualifies(0.60) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58 - Currency pegging institutionalized a principle of automaticity removing colonial control over exchange rates.
#expands(0.45) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 78