12. Trade and Commerce

Question 1

What beliefs dominated 18th century Empire?

Answer 1

Mercantilism and protectionism

Question 2

Mercantilism and protectionism

Answer 2

Belief in a controlled and regulated system of trade, monopolised by one superior country

Question 3

Where are colonies expected to send all of their produce under mercantilism and protectionism?

Answer 3

To Britain

Question 4

What belief about imperialism dominated 19th century Empire?

Answer 4

Free trade

Question 5

Why did free trade develop in the 19th century?

Answer 5

Due to ‘Wealth of Nations’ by Adam Smith

Question 6

What grew significantly under free trade?

Answer 6

Imperial investment and trade

Question 7

What did London become due to free trade?

Answer 7

The financial capital

Question 8

What did trade and commerce provide the British the means to expand?

Answer 8

The means to expand spheres of British influence

Question 9

General opinion of Empire in 1890

Answer 9

It made Britain wealthy

Question 10

What was believe that a would a bigger Empire bring about?

Answer 10

More wealth

Question 11

What percentage of Britain’s total exports did India make up in 1914?

Answer 11

20% (worth around £150 million)

Question 12

What was Empire’s total trade worth in 1896?

Answer 12

£745 million

Question 13

Where did 10% of Britain’s beef and 15% of Britain’s wheat come from by 1914?

Answer 13

Canada

Question 14

Where did Britain get its wool and sugar from?

Answer 14

South Africa and Australia

Question 15

When was the Imperial Federation League established?

Answer 15

1884

Question 16

When was the Imperial Federation League disbanded and what did this reflect?

Answer 16

1893 which reflected lack of interest in Empire’s commercial importance

Question 17

Why was trade within Empire static after 1890?

Answer 17

Because Britain’s trade was growing with non-imperial world (E.g USA)

Question 18

What did anti-imperialists believe about the cost of Empire for m/c people?

Answer 18

It cost them more than it benefitted them

Question 19

How much of the £745 million of Empire’s total trade was within countries of Empire?

Answer 19

£183 million

Question 20

What was Empire blamed for failing to do? (Two things)

Answer 20

Failing to modernise industry
Failing to improve living standards

Question 21

Example of how Empire had failed to modernise industry

Answer 21

Britain was too reliant on Africa and Asia for rubber imports whilst Germany, Russia and France had developed synthetic rubber production

Question 22

What did critics of Empire believe about colonial food imports?

Answer 22

They believes colonial food imports undermined British food production

Question 23

What was decreasing wages in Britain?

Answer 23

Cheap foreign labour in colonies

Question 24

What happened to British investment between 1900 and 1913?

Answer 24

It doubled from £2 billion to £4 billion

Question 25

Between 1900 and 1913, where did the majority of British investment go?

Answer 25

USA and India

Question 26

Loans to where provided bigger returns for British investors?

Answer 26

Loans to foreign nations (not in Empire)

Question 27

Disadvantages of loans within Empire

Answer 27

Loans within Empire might be used to develop rival manufacturers to Britain

Question 28

How was the informal Empire maintained?

Answer 28

Through significant capital investments and commercial treaties

Question 29

Why could Britain afford to import more than it exported?

Answer 29

Due to huge earnings from overseas investments

Question 30

Chamberlain’s views on imperialism

Answer 30

Pro-imperialist

Question 31

What conference did Chamberlain set up in 1902?

Answer 31

The London Colonial Conference

Question 32

What did Chamberlain’s London Colonial Conference discuss?

Answer 32

It discussed creating closer economic ties in the form of an imperial customs union

Question 33

Why did Chamberlain believe imperial trade was preferable to free trade?

Answer 33

Because it was strategically reliable in times of emergency

Question 34

What industries resisted Chamberlain’s pro-imperialist ideas?

Answer 34

Manufacturing, shipping and banking industries

Question 35

Why did particular industries resist Chamberlain’s pro-imperialist ideas?

Answer 35

Because they had interest in free trade and a wider international community

Question 36

What did opposers for Chanberlain argue about the old economic meaning of Empire and Britain’s wealth?

Answer 36

Old economic meaning of Empire had disappeared and Britain’s wealth had come from free trade

Question 37

What did opposers to Chamberlain believe that Empire was not?

Answer 37

It was not an economic unitary and far from self-sufficient

Question 38

Results of 1906 General election

Answer 38

Public rejected Chamberlain’s proposals Liberal Party received majority

Question 39

What was the Liberal Party committed to?

Answer 39

Free trade

Question 40

What did Australia, New Zealand and South Africa do before WW1 to assert national interests over loyalties to Britain?

Answer 40

They imposed import tariffs (taxes)

Question 41

What happened in India during the self-sufficiency movement?

Answer 41

British goods were boycotted and burned in streets