Trade and Commerce (9) Flashcards
1
Q
What percentage of Britians trade came from its colonies?
A
- India - 20% of Britians exports, worth £150 million in 1914
- Canada - provided 10% of Britain’s beef and 15% of wheat by 1914 (Between 1900 and 1914, wheat land production increased six-fold)
2
Q
Importance of trade in the Empire?
A
Empires economic importance decreased
- Imperial Federation League disbanded (designed to promote closer ties to colonies) in 1893
- In 1913 the Empire only made up 24.9% of its imports and 37.4 of its exports, the remainder were to other countries
- Britain mainly imported its wheat from the USA (30.7 million hundredweight) and Russia
- Total trade in 1896 was worth £745 million but the Empire was worth £183 million
- In 1897, all of tropical Africa only took 1.2% of British exports
3
Q
How was British development affected by the Empire?
A
- Anti-Imperialists claimed the Empire was causing it to lag behind
- Britain lagged behind in chemical and electrical engineering
- Britain relied on rubber imports from the Congo whilst the French and Russians started their own synthetic rubber production in 1912
- The Empire was blamed for keeping the working conditions for workers behind
- One of these anti-imperialists was Hobson who wrote Imperialism in 1902 and that the Empire only benefited the rich capitalists
4
Q
How much British investment went to the Empire?
A
- British overseas investment went from £2 billion to £4 billion between 1900 and 1913
- Most of it went to the USA and India
- Investments within the Empire were seen as dangerous as they could be used to build up rival manufacturers such as jute and cotton mills in India
- Colonial Loans and Colonial Stocks Acts of 1899 and 1900 facilitated infrastructure projects, including rail links in Lagos and Mombasa
- Forced other nations to adopt the gold standard
- By 1908 very few countries still used the silver standard
5
Q
Who was an avid Pro-Imperialist?
A
Joseph Chamberlain
- Conservative Colonial Secretary (1895-1903
- Convened the 1902 London Colonial Conference
- Discussed creating closer economic ties through an imperial customs union (protective tariffs against imports from non-imperial nations)
- He developed an ‘imperial preference’ as he believed that colonies could be relied upon more
6
Q
What was the reaction to Chamberlains ideas?
A
- He was met with heavy resistance from the manufacturers who preferred free trade and mercantilism
- ‘Imperial Prefernce’ was openly dismissed in the 1906 general election when the public overwhelmingly supported the Liberals and their free trade
7
Q
Colonial opposition to British trade?
A
Before the outbreak of war in 1914:
- Australia, New Zealand and South Africa imposed import tariffs to support their nationalist interests over their loyalty to Britain
- Canada had made economic ties with Germany, France, Italy and Japan
- British goods were boycotted in India under swadeshi (self-sufficiency) which started in 1905
8
Q
Economic decline from 1890
A
1880s overtaken in Steel production by USA
Late 1890s - trade deficit