Globalization or Colonial Taxation? Explaining the Decline of Textile Production in Ufipa, Tanzania, c. 1880–1940

This chapter examines the decline of cloth manufacturing in Ufipa, situated in southwestern Tanzania’s Rukwa region, where cotton cloth production continued to thrive through the nineteenth century, even as the region was integrated into the central East African ivory trade as a mid-way stop for caravan traders seeking ivory stocks and provisions. The domestic textile industry would only begin to decline during the first decade of the twentieth century, as the region was increasingly affected by German colonial rule. While most scholars point to unbeatable competition from imported cloth as the cause of industrial decay, a closer look suggests that the textile industry was destabilized by colonial taxation policies that precipitated a rapid decline in the local labor supply as men in the cash-deficient region sought wage work on distant plantations.