Trade and Commerce: 1857-1914

Question 1

Through 1857-1890 what was the Empire’s defining feature?

Answer 1

Expanding trade

Question 2

1857-1890 commerce was strictly regulated in a system of…

Answer 2

Mercantilism

Question 3

What were colonies obliged to do in 1857-1890?

Answer 3

Obliged to send most of produce to Britain, to buy British only and to use British ships for imports and exports

Question 4

In 1857-1890, what idea was promoted instead of protectionism?

Answer 4

Free trade, Britain was the world’s foremost (most important) trading nation

Question 5

Whilst the British Government were supportive of free trade in 1857-1890, what were they ready to resort to?

Answer 5

They were ready to resort to force to achieve deals, as seen in the case of Opium Wars.

Question 6

How would British use force to establish trade in 1857-1890?

Answer 6

-British navy could be relied on to enforce terms
-Dominance was established through limited application of force, known as “imperialism of Free Trade”

Question 7

What were the empire concerned about in 1857-1890?

Answer 7

That non-colonial trade could be restricted, as shown during the American civil war
However colonial markets always stayed open

Question 8

In the period 1857-1890 why did colonies want to trade with Britain?

Answer 8

Partly out of loyalty and mostly because it was straightforward. Trading patterns had been well established, the countries of the Empire used common language and currency

Question 9

Free trade saw investment grow enormously, creating an industrial empire. Here, the colonies…

Answer 9

..supplied raw materials and Britain converted them into finished products, which often the colonies bought back

Question 10

What was the assumption in 1890?

Answer 10

-That the Empire made Britain wealthy. India, for example took about 20% of all British exports, worth almost £150m
-In return, India exported huge amounts of goods to Britain

Question 11

In the period 1890-1914 what exports came from SA, Australia, NZ and Canada?

Answer 11

South Africa / Australia = wool and sugar
New Zealand = dairy produce and lamb
Canada = beef and wheat

Question 12

Between 1890 and 1914 what was the increase in Canadian land set aside for wheat production?

Answer 12

A six-fold increase (6x)

Question 13

When and why was the Imperial Federation League active?

Answer 13

-Created in 1884 to promote closer colonial trade
-Disbanded in 1893, indicative of declining interest in Empire’s commercial importance

Question 14

By the twentieth century, Britain’s trade was growing with the non-imperial world, particularly with the USA. In 1894 Britain imported how much wheat from which countries?

Answer 14

64 million tonnes of wheat:
30 million from USA
17.2million from Russia
3.6million from Canada

Question 15

What was the Empire’s main food supplier

Answer 15

Cheese, apples, potatoes and meat

Question 16

What was Empire’s total trade in 1896 worth?
And what was trade between colonies worth?

Answer 16

Total trade = £745m
Trade between colonies = £183m

Question 17

In 1890-1914 the Empire was growing, however trade became static. In 1897, the whole of Africa took only _% of British exports?

Answer 17

1.2

Question 18

What were middle-class Britons opinion on trade and commerce?

Answer 18

They believed the Empire cost them more than it benefitted them. They paid for imperial defence in their taxes, and the empire was blamed for Britain’s failure to modernise its industry

Question 19

How were Britain dealing with rubber as opposed to other European powers?

Answer 19

-Britain relied on rubber imports from Africa or Asia
-Whilst the French, Russians and Germans had successfully started synthetic rubber production

Question 20

What were qualities of Ships and shipping in 1857-1914?

Answer 20

-British clippers ships sailed everywhere by the 1860’s, suited for low-volume high profit goods
-Steamships used for bulky/heavy goods, more efficient by invention of steam engine 1850s
-Steamship companies reduced travel time between Britain and West Africa by less than three weeks
-Opening of Suez Canal caused construction of more steam ships

Question 21

What were the qualities of Railways?

Answer 21

-Building railways key to ensuring control. Britain provided materials needed and could expect colonies to depend on them
-Canada forced to accept defence policies in 1860’s for railway construction
-Railways largest single investment among COWS and Dominions
-In less developed colonies such as West Africa Railways provide vital link between inland industries and sea

Question 22

What were railways used for in Canada, South Africa and India?

Answer 22

Opened the Canadian prairies, allowed South Africa to extent commercial interest to interior of Africa, linked cotton growing areas of north with mills of Bombay and Calcutta - enabling rice to reach ports for export

Question 23

What were the qualities of canals and rivers in 1857-1914?

Answer 23

-Internal river systems important means of transporting products
-Rivers sometimes had be straightened, deepened
-In India, new canals developed on much larger scale after 1857
-In Canada, after 1867, canals were deepened around the St. Lawrence seaway system and Welland Canal built to overcome height differences between Lakes Eyrie and Ontario

Question 24

What were the qualities of Agriculture 1857-1914?

Answer 24

-Most colonial economies agricultural. Canada, Australia and New Zealand have vast tracts of land permitting production of cheap food and raw materials
-Tropical colonies (South Africa for example) produced goods not available in Britain such as sugar, coffee, cocoa, groundnuts and palm oil. Native farmers sell whatever price offered
-Elsewhere products grown on plantations run by British. Indian “coolies” transported to work in West Indies for fixed periods in returns for their transport.

Question 25

There were plantations in Kenya and Tanganyika, Mauritius, Malaya and Fiji for what?

Answer 25

Kenya & Tanganyika = Coffee and Tea
Mauritius & Fiji = Sugar
Malaya = Rubber and Palm Oil

Question 26

What were qualities of mining 1857-1914?

Answer 26

-Motive of Empires expanding was to discover precious metals
-Tin was huge market in Nigeria, gold along Gold Coast and diamonds in Sierra Leone
-Copper in Northern Rhodesia and Gold in Southern Rhodesia
-1886 gold discovered Witwatersrand, prompting a gold rush
-Transvaal gold mines had 30,000 miners travel from Britain
-Diamonds found in Kimberley - created Kimberley Diamond Syndicate 1890

Question 27

By 1866, Victoria in Australia was producing how much gold?

Answer 27

£124 million worth of gold, a third of world production at that time

Question 28

What were qualities of industry in 1857-1914?

Answer 28

-Limited industrial development in colonies, partly because of small market but also because couldn’t compete with Britain on world market
-India’s native mills couldn’t compete in price with imported British textiles
-Underdeveloped areas propelled to modernise, thanks to British capital and technology, however were curbed by way that British exploited economies

Question 29

Until 1850s what was the normal means of organising trade in colonies?

Answer 29

Chartered companies

Question 30

In 1870 attitudes changed when Britain faced challenge in the form of both American and European industrialisation, what happened as a result?

Answer 30

The idea of chartered companies revived as a way of extending British control and trade

Question 31

In 1881 the North Borneo trading company received a charter to rule the sea. What did this mean?

Answer 31

It meant North Borneo benefitted from the deposits of coal, iron and copper as well as the plantations of coffee and tobacco built there.

Question 32

The Royal Niger Company of 1886 was a charter that did what?

Answer 32

Permitted trade in the lands alongside the Niger river and also gave permission for expansion northwards, and crucially, for the company to serve as a government for the Niger region

Question 33

When was the Imperial British East Africa Company & British South African Company established?

Answer 33

IBEAC - 1888
BSAC - 1889

Question 34

What league supported the development of chartered companies?

Answer 34

The imperial federation league

Question 35

What was British investment between 1900 and 1913?

Answer 35

Doubled from £2bil to £4bil

Question 36

How were loans between colonies and non-colonies treated for the empire?

Answer 36

Loans to the colonies were deemed safe
Loans to foreign nations could provide bigger returns
Loans within the empire could be used to develop rival manufacturers to Britain

Question 37

What was the world’s financial capital and also where money was raised?

Answer 37

London

Question 38

By 1908 which countries still used the Silver standard, due to other nations mirroring Britain adopting the gold standard?

Answer 38

-China
-Persia
-A few South American countries