3. Trade and Commerce Flashcards
What were Britain’s policies regarding trade?
Mercantilism - Colonies would sell their produce to Britain and buy manufactured goods
Free Trade - Abandoned protectionism due to Adam Smiths influence
Britain then used its navy to defend this - Opium wars
What % of British Trade came from its colonies?
20% imports
1/3 exports
1857-1890
How were profits maximised?
The development of infrastructure was based around Britain’s trade
Ships
1860s brought about the Clippers - suited to low volume high profit goods - tea
20 year life span
Compound Steam Engine 1850s
Trade to West Africa just 3 weeks
Suez Canal 1869
triple expansion steam engine 1870s
Sir William McKinnons British Steam Company
Canals and Rivers
1867 Canals deepened around St Lawrence
Agriculture
Products were sold by the colonies at whatever price they could achieve - very cheap, much cheaper than in Europe
Plantations - Indian ‘coolies’ sent to West Indies for 5 year periods - Indian Tea
Raw imports from India-
Tea £24,000 in 1854 - £2,430,000 in 1876
Raw Cotton £1,642,000 in 1854 - £5,875,000 in 1876
Mining
Gold deposits found on the Witwatersrand in 1886
30,000 skilled labours from Britain travelled to the Transvaal
Diamonds later found established the Kimberly Diamond Syndicate in 1890
Gold in Australia was producing £124 million, 1/3 world population
Industry
Little industry as they could not compete with the British. Colonies propelled to modernise due to buying British products. Large local demand in India but could not afford to open.
Height of British commercial power?
1870 - GNP was higher than that of Russia and China combined
Merchant fleet carried half the world’s sea borne trade
Finding markets
Between 1870-1914 40% of British investment abroad went to imperial territories
1879 - Germany introduces tariffs
1881 - France introduces tariffs
Britain needed to use its colonies to support its industry
