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How did Elizabethan England explore the globe? (Trade (Value of internal…
How did Elizabethan England explore the globe?
Trade
Value of internal trade considerably exceeded that of foreign trade. Growth in shipping of coal from Tyne to the Thames. Wider range of luxury goods imported during E's reign. Cloth trade with the Netherlands, declined relatively as part of the economy. Antwerp cloth market had declined from the early 1550s. Attempts to establish new overseas markets remained economically marginal.
Attempts to Expand Trade
- main centre of African trade was Guinea. John Hawkins acquired slaves in Africa that he then transported and sold in South America. First two expeditions financially successful although he succeeded in irritating the Spanish authorities. Second expedition (1564), Hawkins had secured investment from Earl of Leicester as well as support from the queen who supplied ships. Third expedition also attracted royal support but went wrong when fleet was blockaded in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua, although some gold did get back to England.
The main changes in English trading patterns were twofold. First the main markets for English wool moved from the southern to the northern Netherlands and there was an increase in trade with the Ottoman Empire. England however remained relatively backward in its exploitation of trading opportunities in Elizabeth's reign
Trading companies set up: Muscovy company 1555, Levant company 1581, East India company 1600 - By the end of E's reign these were still relatively modest
Exploration and colonisation
Extension of trade to the mainland of north america and the attempt to form a colony in Virginia. The suggestion that England should colonise North America was proposed by Humphrey Gilbert and encouraged by Richard Hakluyt. Closely linked to Walter Raleigh
Raleigh gained support from investors, inc. Walsingham and in 1585 he got a patent from the queen to colonise Virginia
Attempts to colonise were disastrous - poor organisation, ill luck and reluctance of queen to give priority. Colonisation had to wait until James I
Prosperity
Prosperity and land
landowners benefitted from the economic trends. Overall increase in all aspects of agricultural production
landed incomes rose and many landowners acquired a range of material possessions
Many large landowners had been able to profit from Henry VIII and Edward VI (dissolution of monasteries)
Huge proliferation of building (country houses)
Society farmers could benefit from the rise in agricultural prices. Inventories after an individual's death confirmed the same pattern of improvement.
Prosperity and trade
Economic historians argue that trade was buoyant, reinforced by shipbuilding. However, other historians have argued that there was a long term decline in cloth trade - i.e financial institutions were much less sophisticated than their counterparts in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy
Urban Prosperity
Old established towns (Stanford and Winchester) did decline under Elizabeth. Urban decay was associated with corporate boroughs, that had been dependent on the cloth industry.
Condition of other towns like York and Norwich continued to improve. Manchester and Plymouth (new) did well as had broad manufacturing industries.
London - Growth of london as a port and an industrial centre had a detrimental effect on other towns and cities. On the other hand, other places like Newcastle benefitted from supplying London's economic needs
Depression
For many, real wages fell - problem at times of harvest failure. 9 of the 44 harvest regions could be described as 'poor'. 1594-1597 particularly bad - 4 successive poor harvests
Distress was common throughout the kingdom, however, was worse in far north in Newcastle which reported burying 25 homeless people who presumed to have starved
The economic condition of the regions
Taxation records show that south east was the wealthiest part followed by Suffolk, Norfolk and the inner west counties like Somerset (Gloucestershire and Wiltshire)
Poorest countries were in the North - Hertfordshire labourers suggests they left goods worth almost as 3 times as much as their counterparts in northern england.
Economic policy at the time did not exist. Sometimes they passed legislation (Statute of Artificers)
Main priority was maintenance of public order, threatened in subsistence crisis 1590s