Trade and Commerce Flashcards
What was Mercantilism?
Strict regulation of trade with colonies obligated to sell/ produce raw materials to Britain and colonies obliged to buy British manufactured goods
………this protectionist system was challenged by new theories of free trade
What was the growth of free trade?
Adoption was gradual between 1750 and 1850
key influence was Adam Smith
Smith’s key theory- wealth is not limited, it is indefinitely expandable if freed from government interference and trading restrictions
When did GB adopt free trade as a gov policy?
mid 19th century
Why did Dominions begin to adopt protective tariff systems ?
Dominions gov have autonomy over their own economic policy
Why in the first Colonial Conference did GB decline the idea of trading preference?
Free trade outside of empire was more valuable to GB than imperial trade
Between 1850-1875 what percentage of British imports came from colonies?
20%
Between 1850-1875 what percentage of British exports went to colonies?
30%
Name the 4 prominent chartered companies in Africa
-North Borneo Chartered company
-Royal Niger Company
-Imperial British East Africa company
-British South African Company
State some facts about the Royal Niger Company
-developed by George Goldie
Key raw materials = palm oil
Locals forced to apply
Who developed the Imperial British east African Company?
William Mackinnon
Had major conflict with local tribes
built railways
Coffee and tea plantations developed
who developed British South African company?
Cecil Rhodes who was personally committed to colonisation
Designed to exploit mineral wealth and block competitors
Cecil Rhodes also created the DeBeer diamond mine
Developed railways
What did David Livingston famously state?
“I go back to Africa to try to open a path for commerce and Christianity”
What did Sir Richard Burton do?
explored Somaliland in 1855
Zanzibar 1857-1858
Visited sacred Islamic cities
wrote 5 books about West Africa
What did Mary Slessor do?
Tribes of Calabar in Nigeria
Tried to stop the killing of twin babies and their mothers due to their association with the devil
What did Amy Carmichael do?
Worked for 55 years in India
Produced 35 books about her experience
Tried to rescue the “temple children”
What did Mary Carpenter ?
Travelled to India in 1866
Tried to improve female education
Encouraged both British and Colonial administrators to improve hospitals and schools
Who is Cecil Rhodes?
Trader
Owned all South Africa’s diamond mines (90% of global production)
Created De Beers company
Formed British South Africa Company
PM Cape Colony 1890-1896
Who was George Goldie?
Formed the Central African trading company in 1876 which later became the Royal Niger Company in 1886
Goldie Knighted in 1887
Who was Bartle Frere?
Began career in the ICS, helped crush the Indian Mutiny, became governor of Bombay, appointed High Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony in 1877
What did Bartle Frere do in South Africa?
Conservative gov tasked to achieve a merger of British South Africa with the Boer republic of the Transvaal
=Frere deliberately provoked a war with Zulus to help achieve the confederation
When was the Anglo-zulu war?
Jan-July 1879
Initially Britain suffered a humiliating defeat at Isandhlwana but eventual British win
What did the 1867 Reform act do?
expanded electorate to 1.5 million
Who won the 1858 election?
Liberal Party
Who won the 1874 election?
Conservatives
Disraeli “imperalist card”
Understood the electoral value of Jingoism:
-empire related to its patriotism
-Celebrating British imperial gains etc
When was the second Anglo-Afghan war and why?
1878-1880
to protect NW India from russia
When was the first Boer war?
1880-1881
What happened in the first Boer war?
Transvaal Boers declared indepedence in Decmeber 1880
with a British defeat at Majuba Hill Feb 1881
Gladstone declined to commit further troops, time or meny
what did the 1884 reform act do?
extended the electorate to 5.5 million men
Who won 1885 election?
Lord Salisbury
Playing the empire card
Who was PM 1892-1894?
Gladstone
