The development of the arid tropics: Lessons for economic history

Abstract

For centuries, the world’s tropical regions have been poorer than the temperate-zone countries. Does tropicality make the struggle for economic development harder? What do people caught up in the struggle do? The paper defines ‘tropicality’ as the combination of aridity and seasonal rainfall, and in turn, high inter- and intra-year variability in moisture influx. In the past, this condition would generate a variety of adaptive strategies such as migration and transhumance. In the twentieth century, the response pattern changed from adapting to moisture supply towards control of moisture supply. This process unleashed conflict and environmental stress in the vulnerable geography of the semi-arid tropics.