Trade And Commerce Flashcards
In 1890, what was the general assumption of empire?
That it made Britain wealthy
Trade with Britain and India:
India’s market took about 20% of Britain’s total exports, worth almost £150mn, to businesses in 1914, and in return, India exported huge quantities of goods to Britain and exported on from Britain to other countries
How did colonies help British trade?
Wool and sugar from South Africa and Australia, dairy produce and lamb from New Zealand, beef and wheat from Canada (they supplied 10% of Britain’s beef and 15% of its flour by 1914
What did the 1893 disbanding of the ‘Imperial federation league’ show?
It reflected a waning interest in the empire’s commercial importance
What shows that Britain’s trade was growing away from empire and the imperial world?
- in 1894 Britain had imported 64 million hundredweight of wheat - 30.7mn from the USA, 17.2mn from Russia and 3.6mn from Canada
- only in cheese, apples, potatoes and fresh mutton was the empire Britain’s main food supplier
- despite the expansion of empire there had been no corresponding expansion of trade (trade between countries of empire in 1896 was only £183mn)
- in 1897, the whole of tropical Africa took only 1,2% of British exports
What was empire blamed for?
- anti-imperialists argued that empire cost middle-class people more than it benefitted them
- empire was blamed for Britain’s failure to modernise industry and for holding back developments to raise living standards for workers
- it was argued that the imports of colonial food produce undermined Britain’s domestic food production
- the cost of acquiring empire out weighed any fiscal returns from it
In what ways did Britain fall behind its European rivals?
They fell behind in chemical and electrical engineering as a result of poor investment and productivity, in contrast to the French, Germans and the Russians who had successfully started their own synthetic rubber production by 1910
What is the ‘devil fish in Egyptian waters’ (1882)?
An American cartoon depicting John Bull (England) as an octopus grabbing land on several continents
Between 1900-1913, how did British investment increase?
It doubled from £2bn - £4bn
How did Britain begin to move away from Imperial investment?
Far more British capital went to USA and India, loans within empire were mainly used to develop rival manufactures to Britain whilst loans within empire were foreign nations provided bigger returns
How prominent was Britain’s investment from 1890-1914?
- London remained the world’s financial capital and capital for imperial projects
- the colonial loans and colonial stocks acts of 1899 and 1900 facilitated a number of infrastructure projects such as rail links to African interior
- by 1914 Britain had invested twice the amount of French and three times the amount of Germans overseas
- Britain adopted a ‘gold standard’ and currencies on the gold standard were fixed in value against each other, aiding international commerce
Why were debates sparked in the early 20th century?
There were disputes between those who believed colonies were an ‘expensive encumbrance’ and those who believed they were a valuable asset that should be made more of.
What happened in the 1902 London Colonial conference?
It discussed creating closer economic ties in the form of an imperial customs union in order to boost imperial trade through mutual agreements and protective tariffs against non-imperial powers
Who convened the 1902 London colonial conference and who did it involve?
Joseph Chamberlain (conservative colonial secretary) convened it and it involved leaders from Britain and the dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, cape colony, natal and Newfoundland
What did chamberlain believe?
He believed imperial trade was reliable in times of emergency and would promote greater growth and productivity
Why was there opposition to Chamberlain’s ideas?
Manufacturing, shipping and banking industries argued that Britain’s wealth had come from free trade and the old economic meaning of empire had disappeared and empire was far from self-sufficient
What was the impact of then1906 general election?
The public rejected Chamberlain’s proposals and instead favoured the liberal Party’s commitment to free trade
By 1914, how had Britain’s imperial power in terms of trade and commerce decreased?
