URBAN SEGREGATION LEVELS IN THE BRITISH OVERSEAS EMPIRE AND ITS SUCCESSORS, IN THE 20TH-CENTURY

Colonial cities have been regarded as racially segregated. An attempt to provide some measure of statistical backing to this concept within the confines of the twentieth century British Empire exposes the problems involved. Records are poor and have little comparability from one colony to another, making a comprehensive study impossible. The cities of the mid-latitude dominions were racially remarkably homogeneous, while those in the tropical colonies were far more heterogeneous. Europeans formed the dominant majority in the former, but small minorities in the latter. European segregation from other groups in the tropical colonies was always modified by the presence of servants and, in Asia, the upper echelons of the indigenous population. However, the African, notably South African, colonial cities constituted a particularly intractable grouping as European settlers sought to maintain control through statutory separation. The result was a highly segregated set of cities. After the end of the colonial era the cities developed along new lines, with greater racial complexity in the mid-latitudes and less in the tropics.