Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
II. Die Wahrnehmungen von Raum / The perceptions of space - Robert Lee: Railways, space and imperialism
RAILWAYS, SPACE AND IMPERIALISM Robert Lee 1. Introduction Railways exist in space and their prime purpose always has been to modify space for human purposes. Space changes when a railway is built. Distances shrink and new patterns of social and economic interaction are created. In short, railway construction changes people’s lives. The motives of railway builders, of course, vary enormously. For many railway entrepreneurs, especially in the nineteenth century, the prime motive was profit. For governments, priorities were rather different. While no government deliberately built a railway expecting it to be a bad investment, immediate profit and a commercial return have not always been the first consideration. In the nineteenth century many railways were built as partnerships between governments and entrepreneurs. In such arrangements, investors had their income from the railway guaranteed, while governments controlled aspects of policy. Such government intervention in railways was most often for the purpose of state-building or even empire-building. Thus, railways played an important role in imperialism throughout the world. Because railways can change spatial realities, they have been a favoured tool of empire-builders. A railway can move territory from the orbit of one port to that of another for instance. Railway imperialism is based on the theory of a hinterland. Every port has a natural hinterland or area it serves and dominates. Natural hinterlands were most commonly defined by navigable rivers or, where these were lacking, roads. Railways have been able to overcome nature, and move hinterlands. This has permitted the creation of empires and the consolidation of states. This paper will examine a number of examples of the use of the railway for this purpose, mostly in Asia. It was in Asia and Africa, of course, where competition for empire was most intense in the nineteenth century. Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs/Sonderband 7 91
