- North America
National park system created
Costa Rica establishes a national park system that grows to protect roughly a quarter of the country, anchoring its conservation and ecotourism economy.
Era: Peace, Welfare, and the Green Republic
Sources: Costa Rica in the 21st century · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Nationalisation of oil and gas
Boumédiène nationalises the hydrocarbon industry, using oil and gas revenues to fund state-led industrialisation and a socialist development model.
Era: Independent Algeria: Revolution, Civil War and Hirak
Sources: Houari Boumedienne · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Algeria · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Nationalisation of the economy
Burnham's government nationalises the foreign-owned bauxite and sugar industries, bringing most of the economy under state control in a 'cooperative socialist' programme.
Era: The Burnham Era and the Shadow of Jonestown
Sources: Forbes Burnham · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Guyana — Independence, Ethnicity, Politics · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
The New Economic Policy
In the wake of the 1969 riots, the government launches a twenty-year programme of affirmative action to reduce poverty and raise the economic share of the Bumiputera majority, reshaping Malaysian society.
Era: The New Economic Policy, Mahathir and Modern Malaysia
Sources: Fifty Years of Malaysia's New Economic Policy · ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Malaysia: Political transformation (occupation, federation, NEP) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Diversification beyond sugar
An export-processing zone, tourism and financial services transform a one-crop colony into a diversified, growing economy.
Era: Republic & African Success Story
Sources: Mauritius — Independence, Economy, Culture · Encyclopædia Britannica, Mauritius Overview · World Bank Group
- Africa
Uranium mining begins at Arlit
After deposits were developed from 1968 through the company SOMAÏR, the open-pit mine at Arlit began commercial uranium production in 1971, founding the industry that became Niger's leading export.
Era: Independence, uranium and the long droughts
Sources: Uranium in Niger · World Nuclear Association, SOMAÏR · Wikipedia
- South America
The oil era begins
Ecuador begins exporting Amazonian oil, transforming its economy and government and launching nearly a decade of rapid growth.
Era: Oil, Dollar and the Modern Crisis
Sources: History of Ecuador · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The World Bank in Ecuador: Overview · The World Bank
- Europe
Accession to the European Communities
After a 1972 referendum, Denmark joined the European Communities on 1 January 1973, the forerunner of the European Union and a foundation of its modern foreign policy.
Era: Occupation, the Welfare State and the Modern Realm
Sources: The history of Denmark: From vikings to social welfare state · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (denmark.dk)
- Europe
Accession to the European Communities
After a 1972 referendum carried by over 80 per cent, Ireland joined the European Economic Community on 1 January 1973, beginning a transformation from an agricultural economy to a modern European state.
Era: The Republic, Europe and the Northern Question
Sources: Benefits of EU membership for Ireland · European Commission, Representation in Ireland, Ireland and the EU at 50: Timeline of Key Events · Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ireland, Reaction on Decision to Join the EEC (1972) · RTÉ Archives
- Africa
National currency and Arab orientation
Mauritania leaves the franc zone and introduces the ouguiya, reflecting Ould Daddah's policy of national consolidation and a turn toward the Arab world.
Era: Independence and the Daddah Republic
Sources: Mauritania · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Moktar Ould Daddah (1924–2003) · BlackPast.org
- Asia
The Arab oil embargo
Under King Faisal, Saudi Arabia led Arab OPEC states in an embargo against supporters of Israel, sharply raising oil prices and demonstrating the kingdom's economic power.
Era: Oil, Modernization and Contemporary Saudi Arabia
Sources: Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Arab Embargo 50 Years Ago Weaponized Oil · Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
- Asia
A common currency and federal integration
The federation introduced the UAE dirham and advanced reforms to unify infrastructure and government, knitting the seven emirates into a single modern state.
Era: Oil Wealth and the Global Federation
Sources: Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al Nahyan · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of the United Arab Emirates · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Copper collapse and economic decline
Copper, which provided the bulk of export earnings, fell sharply on the world market from the mid-1970s, triggering a long economic decline, rising debt, and austerity.
Era: The republic: Humanism, multiparty politics and modern Zambia
Sources: Kenneth Kaunda · New World Encyclopedia, History of Zambia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Cocoa economy collapses as labourers flee
Amid the terror, tens of thousands of Nigerian contract labourers were withdrawn from Fernando Pó's plantations in the mid-1970s, and cocoa production — the colony's economic mainstay — collapsed.
Era: The terror of Macías Nguema
Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea · Wikipedia, Spanish Guinea · Wikipedia
- Europe
The 200-mile limit and the EEZ
Iceland's successful assertion of a 200-mile fishing zone helped establish the Exclusive Economic Zone in international law, later codified in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Era: The Cod Wars and the Modern Republic
Sources: Cod Wars · EBSCO Research Starters
- South America
Nationalisation of the oil industry
Venezuela nationalises its oil industry and creates the state company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the financial engine of the petro-state.
Era: The Petro-State and the Democratic Era
Sources: Venezuela: The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate · Council on Foreign Relations, Venezuela · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Deng Xiaoping launches reform and opening
Under Deng Xiaoping, China begins 'reform and opening' in 1978, decollectivizing agriculture and embracing markets and foreign investment, igniting decades of rapid economic growth.
Era: The People's Republic: Revolution, Upheaval, and Reform
Sources: China · Encyclopaedia Britannica, How China Transformed Under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping · Council on Foreign Relations (CFR Education)
Economy & Trade in the 1970s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged economy and trade — trade, currency, industry and resources, narrowed to the 1970s — 17 of them, drawn from 17 nations, running from 1970 to 1978. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 17
- Nations
- 17
- Earliest
- 1970
- Latest
- 1978
- Africa
- 6
- Asia
- 4
- Europe
- 3
- South America
- 3
- North America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.