Towards A Theory of Colonial Growth: The Case of the Dutch in Southern Africa

This paper develops an economic explanation of the Dutch colonization of southern Africa. The changing attitudes of the Dutch to colonial growth are seen as a rational response to shifting economic constraints rather than as a function of changing tastes. The model emphasizes the importance of defence and administration costs to the structure of property rights and the determination of the optimal size of the colony. This neoclassical approach may be applied to other historical instances of European colonization. A formalization of the model is provided in an Appendix.