theme 1 of trade Flashcards
1773 mercantilism
After the 7 years war, britain increased taxes because they were indebted, the GDP rose from 180% in 1773 to 260% in 1821. they were indebted and the system remained to be mercantilist and protectionist which alienated and stifled trade and became a reason for the american war of independence.
1779 - free trade
adoption of free trade because mercantilism did not allow merchants from finding the best possible deals, also prohibited the person selling from making money
caused problems in the americas and also ireland
irish people began to protest as they suffered in terms of agricultural commodoties, the irish protestants were wealthy whereas catholics remained poor
under this peel said free trade has to happen
consulted adam smith who published the wealth of nations in 1779
under the peoples act of 1832, merchants were granted liberty in their trading, protectinism was done
ireland remained a prosp country in wars. imports - 1750 to 1790 1.5m to 1.8m exports rose from 3.8m to 4.9b
peel abolished 1,200 protecrionist tariffs eventhough under the conserv did not benefit from this. they liked anti corn laws whih kept grain prices high
1807 ablolishment of slave trade
triangular trade between west indies, britain and the americas. in exchange for slaves, other countries recieved alcohol, textiles and firearms.
britains way of earning money, it made a lot of people very rich and prosperous
eg the lottery sailed from liverpool under sir thomas leyland and it took £8326 of goods and brought back 453 slaves sold for 22,726.
cotton industry grew due to plantations and sugar too.
sailors would be recruited into the rn tariffs too
abolished bec of morality, growing concern quakers established anti slavery movement with william wilbeforce. wilbeforce inititaed the grass roots campaign
economic change -bristols 40% of income came from slave trade but due to privateering and foreign concern it reduced.
french reintroduced slave trade, st domingue slave rebellion, britain no send, napoleon did
1819 singapore
problems- straits of malacca, piracy, dutch colonised area, cant leave post at canton too.
sir stamford raffles aquired singapore thru illegal treaties, singapore was a promising acquisition as in the first year, 400,000 spanish dollars passed thry hence briatin had to keep and in 1824 11million
angered dutch but they gave them bencoolen and sumatra instead
grew as its post as an entrepot
any nationality ship could dock without paying import - purposely done to attract merchants from all over
ships did not have to complete all their journey, ships meant for britain from india could offload at singapore
it was a hub of goods
1846 hong kong
singapore did not solve the issue of canton, they still couldnt leave and they were restricted of selling
pirates sailing from the phillipines stil plagued the seas between india and canton
however opium trade boomed, east india company and china exchanged tea and silk in exchange for wool and cotton however chinese demands were not as strong hence opium had to be smuggled
tonnage increased from 75 tonnes in 1775 to 200 in 1800 shows the high levels of growth
however, chinese govt found out and did a chinese blockade, they stopped merchants in international waters and held them hostage, stop and search too. however, the british govt sent out an expedition to resolve the issue
lord palmerston said we will defeat using gun boat diplomacy
nemesis defeated the chinese and they acquired hong kong
it was good as it allowed more ports to be opned in china and a very secure location to offload goods. also its population grew from 15,000 to 300,000 in 1900.
1849 navigations act being repealed
acts stopped because under these acts, all colonial goods produced by these colonys for exports had to be taken on english ships and they had to be taken from english ports too for further shipping
no recognition for colonies and they were identified as countries to supply mother country with raw material and employment
this was an issue as well with statuatory neglect- this meant the boundries of trade were blurred between the americas and britain, they wanted to maintain a good relationship however this changed in 1763 when the french war began. royal navy asserted and began to seize cargo ships and taxes, annoyed merchants as good trading routes closed
peel abolished 1,200 tariffs but corn laws and sugar duties remained
sugar duties
preferential rate for sugar producers in west indies, seen important for plantation owners as after abolishment of st, it was an uncompetitive business unlike cuba and brazil. anti corn league but no
abolished tariffs in 1846 but he was seen as a betrayer
acquisition of shanghai
trhough the unequal treaty of nanking, britain imposed sanctions on china, they were to pay 3 million forbritish merchants in canton and 12 million for the war. cede hong kong, ports of amoy and shanghai too
shanghai allowed access to the yangtze river which was known to very promising as a trade centre.
british established settlemt et it was a chinese sovereign however chinese could not resist the power by britian
british merchants could trade directly and allow, opium trade benefitted as they could smuggle with chinese middlemen opium reached 6,500 tonns in 1850
suez canal 1875
prior to british involvement, sc was of military interest to napoleon in the late 1700’s, when he tried to build a canal there as it was a passage connecting to india and africa, he couldnt because of unequal sea levels between the med and red sea
however it came to be known that they were est
in 1818, ferdinand de lessups got concessions from the khedive of egypt to give canal for 99y lease
took 10 years problems too
however good for trade route to india
steam ships increased 174% between 1868 to 75
1868, 1.1million tons of british shipping from asia compared to 60% from europe
zanzibar 1890
entrepot before britain
sultan of oman made it a hub of goods
known to merchants
goods flooded in
britain wanted to protect trade route to india
in 1861 due to lack of lsave trade which zanzibar functioned on, it failed
hence britain took over
est british east asia assoc which made no money
this was purely to protect colonial interests
weiheiwei 1898
uk grew as an indistrialied count, usa and china grew too but russia was slow
russia wanted to expand into central asia which was marked as british territory
they made advances on chinese turkistan but they were threatened with war
1868 - china commissioned russian engineers to build coastal ports on port arthur
saw this as a opp asked france and germany to japan to ease off
combined they had 38 ships of 95k ton compared to 32 of 58k
britain acquired weiheiwigh to monitor russian development
