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Economy : Under the imperial regime, manufacture and commerce were completely unregulated. According to the official line of the regime, the strong social emphasis on charity as a religious obligation was sufficiently effective in limiting the ill- effects of the a totally free market because, to quote from imperial government sources, "A rich man who does not practice charity is blackmarked and his business may very well sink." In fact, however, wealth was concentrated in the hands of
coastal and urban landlords as well as in those of a few prosperous
trading families in the north and the interior of the south.
In point of fact, the Afrazurean economy of the last fifty years
has been marked by widespread poverty, occasional famine, and
even the practice of slavery in the more remote areas. Agriculture
has been limited to areas along the coasts and on the banks of
the Great Elephant River, and the nation has always been a net
importer of foodstuffs. Although the interior is characterized
by arid plains and desert, the government of the Protectorate
will attempt to extend appropriate forms of agriculture, especially
the growing of grains and tubers, as far inland as possible. |
