ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 charts the links between the Katangese and Rhodesian mining regimes from the point of view of communications, financial institutions and labour migration networks. It analyses the evolution of the Central African mining industry, from its simple and crude pick-and-shovel beginnings with tent and shack dwellings to the era of commercial-scale mining, smelting and refining. For those with interests in its mineral resources Katanga could be perceived either as a barrier or as a bridge between the southern and central parts of the continent. A barrier for its challenging communications, sparse population and, in addition, for forming the frontier between the neighbouring colonies in the west, south and east. A bridge for its ethnic, cultural, political and economic links with the south, which since the early twentieth century were forged through an integrated rail network system, labour migration networks and the interconnectedness of financial regimes.
