Historical Factors Causing Uneven Development
Geography: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 3.3.4
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.
Neo-colonialism
- More powerful nations influence post-colonial countries by their control of debt markets and their transnational corporations. Lots of poor nations struggle to repay their debts to richer, more developed nations.
- Oil companies like Shell and Exxon are influential in the Middle East and Africa.
Test yourself on Historical Factors Causing Uneven Development
What are the main historical reasons for uneven development?
Which of the following is a historical factor that can cause uneven development?