"The government of Costa Rica grants to the concessionaire the exclusive right to construct, maintain, and exploit a railway from the Atlantic coast to the capital... The government also grants to the concessionaire eight hundred thousand acres of public lands, which may be selected in any part of the republic... These lands shall be exempt from all national or municipal taxes for a period of twenty years, and the concessionaire shall have the right to import free of all customs duties all machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the construction and operation of the railway."
— Contract between the Government of Costa Rica and Minor C. Keith (founder of the United Fruit Company), 1884
The concessions described in the passage best illustrate which of the following global economic trends in the late nineteenth century?
- AThe implementation of direct colonial rule and administrative annexation of Central American states by industrial powers
- BThe continuation of mercantilist regulations designed to limit the accumulation of private capital in favor of imperial treasuries
- The growth of transnational corporations that secured political and economic influence in foreign states to facilitate resource extraction and tradeCevap
- DThe rapid decline of steam-powered transportation networks due to the emergence of electrical power grids