The Cape’s strategic value was controlling southern hemisphere sea traffic

Evidence

British rulers soon understood what the Dutch had taken decades to come to terms with, namely, that economies of scale at the Cape required local forms of revenue generation for its own upkeep so as not to drain the imperial treasury in the metropole. That meant a product appealing to the global market. Colonies in the West Indies had sugar, until that market collapsed in the wake of slavery’s demise. The East Indies had silk, porcelain, and spices, perennially in demand. Parts of Latin America glittered with the lure of gold. The Cape, it came to be realized not long after the significant settlement of English immigrants in the 1820s, was an effective source of wool. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1440 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: British expansion into the Cape originated in global trade and sea-power motives. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1399; The Cape Colony only became economically valuable once wool suited global markets — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1440

Broader Connections

• The Cape Colony only became economically valuable once wool suited global markets #complicates (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1440