View of the Art of Colonization

by Edward Gibbon Wakefield (Editor)

Wakefield's final, lengthy--and most polemical--exposition of the principles of his theory of colonization first offered in A Letter from Sydney and further elaborated in England and America. Wakefield has been credited with anticipating two key theoretical concepts of economic development in the nineteenth century--the strategic significance of social overhead capital and the desirability of balanced economic growth.

513 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1969

About the author

Edward Gibbon Wakefield is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as an member of parliament). He also had significant interests in British North America, being involved in the drafting of Lord Durham's Report and being a member of the Parliament of the Province of Canada for a short time.

He was best known for his colonisation scheme, sometimes referred to as the Wakefield scheme, which aimed to populate the new Province South Australia with a workable combination of labourers, tradespeople, artisans and capital. The scheme was to be financed by the sale of land to the capitalists who would thereby support the other classes of emigrants.

Despite being imprisoned for three years in 1827 for kidnapping a fifteen-year-old girl, he enjoyed a distinguished political career.

Wakefield died in Wellington, New Zealand after a long period of ill health
abridged from Wikipedia