From the Dawn of History to the Time of Troubles

Intimacy, labour and sexual violence: Nama and Baster women in Namaqualand’s copper mining district, c.1879–1900

“…Industrial copper mining in Namaqualand commenced in the 1850s, after the Cape Colony had incorporated the vast tracts of land south-west of the Orange River into its territory in 1847 (Davenport 2014: 7–10; Smalberger 1975: 11–15, 33–4). Particularly in its early stages, the colonial mining industry depended on ‘the intense involvement’ of the state.…”

“…Despite intense yet often fruitless speculation and the Cape government’s reluctance to provide capital (Davenport 2014: 22–5), copper had become the colony’s second most important export by 1860 (Smalberger 1975: 65–9). Industrial copper mining in Namaqualand intensified in 1865 when the newly formed Cape Copper Company (CCC) 10 bought the property of Phillips & King, invested in machinery and infrastructure, and moved the mining of copper underground (CPP 1899: 11).…”

“…Despite these developments, the copper-mining industry soon stagnated. From the 1860s onwards, the global copper price dropped consistently (Smalberger 1975: 127, 139), while companies struggled with high transportation costs and delays because of droughts (Davenport 2014: 33). By the 1880s, the mining of copper had become an increasingly unattractive business.…”

“… See, for instance, Van Onselen (1982a;1982b),Worger (1987),Harries (1994),Phimister (1994),Maloka (1998), Gewald (1999,Carstens (2001),Cleveland (2015) andPress (2021).6 Edmonds and Nettelbeck (2018: 2) have called for expanding research to a diverse set of sites of intimacy and violence. However, mines have rarely been approached as such.7Davenport (2014) was among the first scholars to thoroughly situate copper mining in Namaqualand within South Africa's history of industrial mining.8 On a narrow conceptualization of violence generally, see vanWalraven and Abbink (2003: 17-18). 9 On colonial court records and their value as sources for African history, seeRoberts (2005),Benson and Chadya (2005) andBurrill et al (2010: 18-20).…”

Gobernanza de los recursos naturales y participación social: fuentes de rechazo y apoyo a la minería

“…Si observamos los tres países donde se encuentran estos proyectos, encontramos que la minería está muy presente en la historia de Perú y de Sudáfrica: se remonta a la época colonial (Kruijt & Vellinga, 1979;Davenport, 2013). También ha estado presente en Nicaragua desde la época colonial, pero su intensidad y escala aumentaron sustancialmente después del regreso de la democracia al país en 1990.…”