Comments by "" (@TheDavidlloydjones) on "What Caused the Scramble for Africa? | History of Africa 1870-1885 Documentary 3/6" video.

  1. Bear in mind that in 1870 clothing people, naked Congolese or paying customers in the industrial world, was not the main use of cotton. From the US Civil War through the end of WWI, the main use of cotton was in gun cotton. The average artillery shell took about 17 pounds of cotton, or about the same as a paid of jeans and a cotton jacket. The industrial countries stored artillery shells by the tens of millions and fired off tens of millions more. Only the invention of artificial fixation of nitrogen by the Germans (dated as 1919 by some, with I do not know how much accuracy) ended this major use of cotton. I know of no histories typing the gun-cotton market to race relations in the US South, and I would love to hear from anyone who has reliable thoughts and information on that aspect of the topic.
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