CULTURAL PLURALISM AND THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF DECOLONIZATION: THE CASE OF SURINAM

(pp. 1 - 11)

Harm J. de Blij

University of Miami

Miami, Florida

Abstract

The problems involved in the process of decolonization are nowhere more strongly felt than in those present and former dependencies which are inhabited by plural societies. Colonial rule had the effect of submerging or controlling latent internal conflicts; alien subjugation even constituted a temporary centripetal force in that it provided a common adversary for otherwise disparate peoples. Perhaps more often than not, however, the colonial administration fostered circumstances which, upon independence, left the newly independent state with serious difficulties. It was not enough that peoples of vastly different qualities had been thrown together during the colonial scramble: colonial practices often favored one indigenous people over another, arousing fears and jealousies which were stored up during the colonial period and exploded after independence. In Rwanda, the Watusi were confirmed in their minority hegemony over the Bahutu during Belgian control, but after independence the Bahutu rose in a wave of retribution that cost thousands of Watusi their lives. In Uganda, British administration gave the traditionalist Buganda Kingdom a place of privilege and power, but after independence  the monarchy was destroyed and the king exiled by the forces of nationalism. In Nigeria, the Ibo of the East had long been the favored entrepreneurs, and in search of jobs they entered the Moslem North in large numbers. There they served the British well, but shortly after independence Northern resentment burst into widespread violence in which perhaps as many as a hundred thousand Ibo were killed. Subsequently the apparently ill-fated Biafran secession movement became the final chapter in the Ibo tragedy.

NORTHEAST BRAZIL: A STUDY IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

(pp. 12 - 20)

Kevin C. Kearns

Colorado State College

Fort Collins, Colorado

Abstract

From the initial contact of Cabral in 1500 the Northeast region of Brazil egressed as a unique historical and economic sphere of Portuguese colonization. As it prospered through its Golden Age of sugarcane plantations and entrenched feudal system of great estates so it carried the country through its early stages of growth. But in the 1800's the "Bulge of Brazil" found itself unable to respond in a competitive manner to the economic pressures from the prosperous and rising Southern region focusing on Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Furthermore soil depletion, overproduction of cane and competition from the West Indies had impaired the sugarcane industry. The elimination of open slavery struck still another blow at the faltering economy by critically reducing the abundance of cheap labor. Lacking the ability to find purpose and direction, the region gradually moved toward a state of widespread socioeconomic deprivation. By the end of the nineteenth century the Northeast had once again become a focal point in Brazil, but this time as a seriously depressed region in a rapidly developing country.

OTTO EMIL GEPPERT: GEOGRAPHER AND CARTOGRAPHER

(p. 21)

David C. Winslow

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Indiana, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Mr. Otto Emil Geppert, eminent geographer, cartographer and publisher, died April 19, 1970 following an automobile accident which occurred near his home in Wilmette, Illinois. An outstanding personality in the field, he was a frequent visitor to Pennsylvania and a member of the Pennsylvania Council for Geography Education.