Historical Causes of Uneven Development
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 5.1.7
Which Historical Factors Cause Uneven Development?
The following are possible historical factors that can lead to uneven development:
Colonisation
- Some nations were colonised in the past.
- Spain and Portugal ruled lots of Latin America, and England, France & the Netherlands ruled a lot of Asia and Africa.
- Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom in 1960.
- Often the benefits of cheap labour and raw materials flowed to colonial rulers, rather than the colonised nations themselves.
- Lots of less developed nations used to be colonies, like Malawi and Lesotho.
Conflict and wars
- Wars damage countries' infrastructure badly.
- After World War 2, Marshall Aid was American funding which helped rebuild a lot of Europe. However, without this funding, development would have been slower.
- Afghanistan has been involved in civil wars since 1978.
Test yourself on Historical Causes of Uneven Development
What are the main historical reasons for uneven development?
Which of the following is a historical factor that can cause uneven development?