THE CHANGING NATURE AND EXTENT OF TRADE Flashcards
What year where the navigation acts set out?
1660
What was triangular trade?
A trade route between 3 regions, the most famous example of this is the slave trade between Europe, west Africa and Caribbean
Define protectionist policies
Taxes or prohibitions on imports and exports designed to protect domestic producers. By restricting /prohibiting sale of foreign goods providing an advantage to their own producers
Mercantilism
A policy of government intervention to ensure that the value of exports is more than the value of imports
What was free trade?
Import and export taxes are minimised to allow merchants to compete across borders, the government used diplomacy and coercion to make other countries do the same
Why was British involvement in the slave trade?
Up to the 1800s the use of the slave trade and was seen as critical to British economic power, sugar had grown asa an essential commodity for emparejan consumption and was the largest import. Slaves were brought with British products such as guns and paper.
What were the main trade points and was the importance of them?
The main slaving ports, Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow, became extremely wealthy due to slave trade. Cities were full of merchants and agents f the plantation owners. By 1790s 1220-130 ships a year sailed from Liverpool, making it the main port for the slave trade in the world.
What was the political link to trade ?
Estimated in 1766 that 40 members of parliament had financial interests in slave trade. For instance William Beckford who was twice mayor of London.
What year was the abolition of slave trade act ?
1807
Economic reasons for abolition of slave trade?
-world over supply of sugar and British merchants had difficulty re-exporting it, colonial sugar was hit by the anti-slavery boycott of the 1790s
- plantation owners suffered a decline in profits but slave labour adn slave labour continued profitably for many years after 1807.
-slave trade was till profitable was 40% of income from Bristols population came from trade in 1780s
1/10th ships a during the 18th century would lose its owner profits and in 1778 merchants n Liverpool lost 70,000 pounds
Political and international reasons for abolition of trade ( most Important)
PM Pitt was against slavery but had opposed volition while Britain was involved in wars with France when France reintroduced it Britain favoured abolition to destabilise teh french
- support for abolition in House of Commons, new liberal Irish mps supported
Lord Grenville the new PM strongly supported it.
Humanitarian and public pressure factors
Rise of evangelical Christianity opposed slavery
Public campaigns- eg Wedgwood designed protest plates
Abolitionist campaigns in the country- Wilberforce
Slave resistance on ships and in plantations.
The significance of French Revolution and slave rebellion on Saint Domingues -1789
The french responded by freeing their slaves in teh colony
Britain reacted by invading the colony
Emancipation was rewarded as being pro-french so the government and public turned against it
1802- situation favoured abolitionists and Napoleon had seized power in France and attempted to restore slavery teh ex slaves resisted and fought against the French
Public support for the cause received an in 1804 Wilberforce successfully passed a bill abolishing the slave trade
1806 the abolitionists introduced the Foreign slave tarde bill profiting any British subjects from supplying slaves to french colonies
The bill had widespread support and passed quickly. In the 1806 election many abolitionist were elected. Both Houses of Parliament passed the Slave Trade act in 1807
