On the edge of state and economy

Abstract

The previous chapters discussed the constitution of ‘the edge’ and the diversity of people’s activites in these areas in relation to its major defining characteristic; its proximity to wildlife conservation areas. This chapter shifts the attention to another defining characteristic; the position of ‘the edge’ in border zones, at the margins of the state and national economy. As had already been elaborated, protected areas in Southern Africa were often declared in dry and disease-riden areas where settlers saw no mining prospects or potential for commercial agriculture. Not surprisingly then, these uncontested and sparsely populated areas became the border zones of the new states that the European powers defined.