The Economic Impact of Empire on Britain

Question 1

in 1688, what was Britain’s main export?

Answer 1

woollen cloth sold to Europe

Question 2

as Britain’s colonies grew, which goods did they begin exporting more of?
from where and to where?

Answer 2

more manufactured goods, tea, sugar tobacco, cotton textiles, silk, porcelain
from the Americas and Asia
and sold them in Britain or re-exported them to Europe

Question 3

describe Britain’s industries in 1730

Answer 3

• Britain was at the centre of a worldwide commercial network,
• international trade was vital to its economy.

Question 4

how did the growth of international trade increase Britain’s profits and ease of trade?

Answer 4

• joint-stock companies funded international trade by buying shares from companies,
• there grew a market to buy and sell shares in joint-stock companies,
• insurance businesses protected investors, merchants and ship-owners again the financial risks of international trade.

Question 5

when did the Nine Years’ War break out?
why did King William then try finding new sources of income?

Answer 5

1688
taxes alone couldn’t fund the troops and navy needed

Question 6

why could William not just raise taxes to fund the Nine Years’ War?

Answer 6

he had signed the Bill of Rights when he became king,
which limited the king’s rights
and ability to raise taxes

Question 7

what was a financial problem that the government was facing in 1694?

Answer 7

it needed a loan of £1.2 million to fund the army and navy

Question 8

what was set up in 1694 and why?

Answer 8

Bank of England
- set up in 1694,
- to provide the government with the (£1.2 million) loan it needed to fund the army and navy for the Nine Years’ War.

Question 9

how did the Bank of England get money?

Answer 9

• it was a joint-stock company;
• investors lent the government money,
• the government would pay them back interest.

Question 10

where and when was Britain’s first successful American colony established?

Answer 10

Jamestown, Virginia,
1607

Question 11

by the 16[??]s, Britain had colonies in [???] and [???].
why were these colonies becoming increasingly wealthy?

Answer 11

by the 1680s, Britain has colonies in North America and the Caribbean,
the population of these colonies was growing rapidly
so their wealth also grew rapidly.

Question 12

how did the growth of cosines help British manufacturing grow?

Answer 12

growing colonies needed more and more products like clothes, shoes, furniture, building supplies and kitchenware,
which were mostly supplied by exports from Britain,
and Britain could make a lot of at a fast rate because it was now growing a greater variety of products for export to the Americas

Question 13

how did Britain’s economy change during the early 1600s?

Answer 13

shifted from a mostly agricultural economy to an increasingly modern and industrialised one
due to the growth of British manufacturing and its diversity

Question 14

which 3 main crops did British colonies mainly grow?

Answer 14

sugar (Caribbean)
tobacco (North America)
rice (North America)

Question 15

when were the Navigation Acts passed?
what did they do?

Answer 15

from 1651
- gave British merchants monopoly on exports to colonies:imported goods had to have been produced in Britain,
- the most valuable colonial products (tobacco and sugar) could only be exported to other British colonies or to Britain itself.

Question 16

how did the expansion of colonial trade affect taxes in Britain?

Answer 16

taxes increased

Question 17

when was the RAC founded?
what did it have?

Answer 17

1660
had monopoly on African trade: was the only British company allowed to trade in that region,

Question 18

when did the government lift the Rac’s monopoly over African trade?
impacts of this?

Answer 18

1698: govt lifted the RAC’s monopoly over African trade,
which increased the number of African slaves being transported across the Atlantic
and resulted in the development of a ‘triangular trade’.

Question 19

describe how the triangular trade functioned

Answer 19

• manufactured goods were exported from Britain to Africa and exchanged for slaves,
• slaves were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas,
• tobacco and sugar were sent back to Britain from plantations in Virginia and the Caribbean.

Question 20

why did the level of indentured servants migrating to the Americas fall between 1688 and 1730 fall?

Answer 20

because people started finding work in England instead
because its economy was improving

Question 21

describe conditions on Caribbean sugar plantations
and how this kept demand for slaves high

Answer 21

the conditions were terrible which caused low life expectancies for slaves
which kept demand for slaves high because owners had to constantly replace those which were dying

Question 22

when was the ‘sugar revolution’?
what happened?

Answer 22

second half of the 17th century
colonies realised they could make greater profits from growing only sugar and no other crops
so many wealthy landowners set up huge sugar plantations
which increased demand for slaves.

Question 23

when did the War of the Spanish Succession break out
and why?

Answer 23

1702
because a member of French royalty became king of Spain
so people in Britain and Europe were concerned about a French and Spanish union,
which would make them the most powerful European force
and threaten Britain’s growing international trade
by allowing French merchants to trade with Spanish colonies
which Britain merchants couldn’t.

Question 24

what ended the War of the Spanish Succession and when?

Answer 24

the Treaty of Utrecht
1713

Question 25

effects of the Treaty of Utrecht

Answer 25

• ended the War of the Spanish Succession,
• forbade the Spanish and French crowns from union,
• gave Britain some new territory in the Americas and two Mediterranean islands,
• gave Britain monopoly for thirty years over slave trade with Spanish colonies in South America.

Question 26

when was the South Sea Company set up
and why?

Answer 26

1711
to trade with South America

Question 27

how was investment into the South Sea Company encouraged?

Answer 27

the company’s directors spread false rumours that the Company was making huge profits in South America,
the govt introduced the Bubble Act which protected the Company from competition and making investors more confident about investing.

Question 28

how did investment in the South Sea Bubble lose many investors a lot of money?

Answer 28

• in July 1720 people started realising that their shares were overpriced,
• panicked, tried to rapidly sell them,
• as the shares’ values fell rapidly,
• financially ruining many investors.

Question 29

why was the South Sea Company’s trade with Spanish colonies not as successful as people had imagined?

Answer 29

• the colonies were mostly closed to trade with British ships,
• the South American slave trade was not very profitable.

Question 30

when and why was the EIC formed?

Answer 30

• in 1600,
• to trade with countries in the Indian Ocean.

Question 31

who did the EIC have competition against?
how was this reduced after the Glorious Revolution?

Answer 31

• competition against the Dutch and Portuguese,
• after the Glorious Revolution, the English focused on importing cotton textiles from India while the Dutch focused on spice trade.

Question 32

when was a new trading post established in Kolkata?
how did it benefit Britain economically?

Answer 32

1690
was a good location for the textile trade, which grew there very quickly

Question 33

what did the EIC export from China

Answer 33

mainly tea
but also silk and porcelain

Question 34

when did demander tea in Britain grow?
statistic supporting this

Answer 34

1690s and 18th century
in 1750 the EIC imported over 2.1 million kg of tea.

Question 35

other than how much of it was imported, what else about trade in tea made it very profitable to the British economy?

Answer 35

• the high rate of taxes on tea imports,
• increased tea trade boosted the sugar trade too.