The railroad enhanced colonial governance by extending tax collection and information flows.

Evidence

The railroad as transportation and communication technology enhanced colonial governance by improving and extending tax collection and information flows, making centralization more efficient and allowing for the rapid deployment of military resources. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 318

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the data-colonialism thesis that information infrastructure does governance work; links to the attention/surveillance school’s claims about platforms as governance infrastructure. — connects to: Empire expanded through infrastructure that bundled transport with information distribution. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 318; Colonial taxation chiefly aimed to force locals into the colonial capitalist system — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58
• ADDENDUM: Connects to the ‘Grafting & Growth’ infrastructure thread — colonial infrastructure (rails, roads) as world-shaping systems, a companion mechanism to trees.

Broader Connections

• Empire expanded through infrastructure that bundled transport with information distribution. #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 318
• Colonial taxation chiefly aimed to force locals into the colonial capitalist system #expands (0.75) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 58