THEWHITEINVADERS
tricts became the source of a large production of wool from merino sheep
imported by British officers. Between 1860 and 1869, wool accounted for
73 percent of all exports from the colony. The economic infrastructure also
became more complex. After a pause following the 1820 settlement, Brit-
ish immigration resumed with government assistance. The colonial gov-
ernment also improved the roads, inaugurated
a postal and a telegraph
service, and started to build a railway from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and
down the Cape peninsula to Wynberg. Two banks, incorporated
in Lon-
don, amalgamated many of the small, local banks that had sprung up since
the 1820S and established branches throughout
the region. Foreign trade
was dominated by Great Britain. In 1865, Britain provided 80 percent of
the imports, which were valued at £2,103,000,
and absorbed 85 percent of
the exports, which were valued at £2,218,000.
The colony was still essen-
tially rural. The largest towns were Cape Town, with 28,000 inhabitants,
and Port Elizabeth with 9,000. 75 There was also a widespread network of
small towns-local
markets and merchant centers.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the legal practices of the
Dutch, notably the institution of slavery, had led to the development of a