Trade And Commerce Flashcards
What was the main reason for the empire and expansion?
The main reason for the empire and expansion was profit. The British empire had vast resources which it could gather from all over its empire to be used to make manufactured goods and then sell them. There were other reasons for imperialism but the main reason was profit.
What was the impact of Trade and Commerce on the British Empire?
Britain was the most industrially advanced country in the world. Produced heavy goods and textiles for a global market.
Britain was the largest consumer market for food and raw materials
Britain’s urbanisation, in turn, had increased its reliance on imports from overseas.
Industrial Britain lent on its colonies to feed and provide for its workforce.
How did British trade expand?
British trade was let free from government trading restrictions. Government also helped by resorting to threats and sometimes coercion, to achieve free trade agreements.
Colonies were generally happy to continue to trade with British partly out of a sense of loyalty, or perhaps a feeling of duty to do so, but also because it was easier.
Free trade dominated 19th century empire
Inspired by Adam Smith’s ‘wealth of Nations’
Under free trade Imperial investment and trade grew enormously
In the 3rd quarter of the 19th century 20% of Britain’s imports came from its colonies. Whilst the Smpire provided a market for a 3rd of British exports.
London became the financial capital and Sterling became the international currency of trade.
In order to cope with the huge growth of trade in the latter half of the 19th century what did Britain improve?
Infrastructure was greatly improved through shipping, railways, and canals and rivers.
How was shipping improved?
Clipper ships:
Smaller and speedy boats
Used to transport spices/luxuries/mail/people
Steam ships:
These were used to travel around the world and for bulkier produce.
Compound steam ships developed in the 1850s used less coal and therefore made steam shipping more economical.
Massive development in the 1850s: companies cut the time of transport from Great Britain to West Africa to three weeks and increased cargo capacity.
By the 1870s steam ships were even being used to send goods up the Niger River.
How did the building of railways help to cope with growing trade?
Investment and control:
Building railways ensured British control: British invested in them, provided engineers and rolling stocks so the colonies depended on Britain.
Providing vital links between rural areas of production and the Sea.
Opened up Canadian prairies.
Enables Australia to export wheat and wool
Allowed South Africa to expand commercial interests and territories into the interior (mining).
In India they linked the cotton and jute growing areas of the north with the mills of Bombay & Calcutta.
How did canals/rivers help to cope with growing trade? Examples?
Use for canals:
Explorer quests to discover what lay behind the coastal areas.
Facilitate trade
Sometimes rivers had to be straightened, widened or deepened
Examples:
New canals developed on a huge scale after 1857 to improve access between parts of India.
In Canada, after 1857, canals were deepened around the Great Lakes to overcome height differences between major lakes.
What are chartered companies?
Chartered companies before 1857:
Government recognised commercial organisations which were granted monopoly rights to a specific territory’s resources in return for its administration.
Chartered companies became less fashionable after 1857 (Indian Mutiny Year):
The adoption of free trade and the Indian Mutiny (1857) led to a decline in the use of chartered companies.
Chartered companies after 1870:
With the challenges from new European markets (and the USA tariffs) as well as the onset of the Great Depression (1873-1896) chartered companies were reintroduced.
- 1881 North Borneo Trading Company received a charter. This gave Britain a stronghold in the South China Sea.
This set a precedent…
- Royal Niger Company
- Imperial British East Africa Company (1888)
- British South Africa Company (1889)
Did industrial development benefit the colonies?
Industrial development fairly limited in the colonies - they had small markets and could not compete with British manufacturing.
e.g. mills in India could not compete in price with imported British textiles.
- areas were propelled to modernise thanks to British technologies
- clearly not in the interest of the British to allow too much industrial development in other countries
How important was the role of individuals in the development of attitudes towards the Empire?
The British engaged in imperial expansion because people saw much promise within India. They thought that there was a world out there to be acted upon, fortunes to be won and lands for be conquered. There were also curiosities to be satisfied and souls to be saved. There was prosperity to be found in India and the benefits outweighed risks for many.
Why were individuals involved in the empire? Who were they?
Role of individuals:
- scientific discovery
- thrill of exploration
- moral reasons, to spread Christianity
- combination of these factors
- power and status
- gain wealth
David Livingstone: he was very ambitious and Christian. Determined and driven. Motivated by religion. Devoted to the cause. Patriotic.
Sir Richard Francis Burton: He his our own God. Completely against religion. Accepts he is doing it for himself.
John Hanning Speke: he trusts the natives. Sees them as capable. His desire is the thrill of the expedition. He wants to go where Britain hasn’t gone in India.
How important were the missionaries?
As white settlers maltreated non-Europeans or obstructed missionary preaching, so missions turned inevitably to the imperial authorities to defend their rights.
The missionary societies wanted to avoid political involvement. In reality, it was just an excuse to expand. They needed imperial authorities to defend them.
Missionaries extremely active in the 1800s:
Various groups sought to spread Christianity among non-European.
Some historians see the missionary movement as a distinct form of cultural and Christian imperialism.
Missionary societies at end of 18th century felt a duty to convert the world.
Development of missionaries:
This stemmed from a mixture of absolute adherence to their belief and worthlessness of other faiths.
Could be quite aggressive in their attempts to spread the world.
Sometimes lead incursions into territory (Congo), sometimes followed it (Punjab).
Methodises/Wesleyan missions particularly prolific (e.g. Fiji, China, South Africa)
What role did traders play in the growth of the Empire?
Once commercial enterprises established a foothold somewhere, British administration often followed; in this way the EIC led the way towards British control of India and the commercial exploits of Cecil Rhodes, Sir William Mackinnon, and George Goldie helped ensure that the British flag followed British trade in Africa in the 19th century.
What was the role of administrators?
High positions within the Empire: Company directors, consuls, High Commissioner, Governors. Seem by many men that ‘ran’ the empire as they were positioned in the colonies. Although many governors were appropriated to posts by the Colonial Office in London, they often had considerable freedom to interpret instructions as they saw fit.
Often made independent decisions about how territories should be controlled or developed. Many were very ambitious men and were tempted by opportunities to expand and increase influence. Some started out as explorers/traders e.g Rhodes/Mackinnon/Goldie all finished as powerful administrators.
Who were the ‘men on the spot’?
Sir Evelyn Baring: Served in India as private secretary to Lord Northlook. Second posting was in Egypt, sent to help them out of financial difficulties. Approved Dufferin Report of 1883, which established an Egyptian puppet parliament with no power, and asserted the need for British supervision of reforms in what was then a bankrupt country. This established a ‘veiled protectorate’ where he ruled the rules of Egypt, with the assistance of a group of English administrators in India. Essentially real ruler of Egypt up to 1907.
Bartle Frere: Crushed Indian mutiny. The Conservative Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon, had chosen him to carry out a planned confederation in the area, merging British South Africa with the Dutch Boer Republic of the Transvaal. As the South African colonist were hostile to Carnarvon’s plan and the fact that the Transvaal Boers wanted their independence, Frere deliberately provoked a war with the Zulus, whom he considered an obstacle to Federation. The cost of the war and the fact that the British were defeated meant that Frere was hastily withdrawn from South Africa by Gladstone’s Liberal Government in 1880 and denounced for acting recklessly.
