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Economic impact of the slave trade on Britain - Coggle Diagram
Economic impact of the slave trade on Britain
Wealth and income
Because of the tropical weather and the slave trade, landowners were able to grow more and then they were able to sell them, which made them very wealthy.
Opportunity to become wealthy fast.
Often slave and plantation owners grew wealthy from the trade
Merchants then invested the money on various places, often in british industries or bussinesses.
Much of these profits however were used for individual acquisitions and dissipated in conspicuous consumption.
London and finance
Created banks and insurances
Insurance companies flourished and grew because many people using ships to export goods needed insurance.
Shipping and ports
Bristol, liverpool and glasgow all thrived into massive shipping cities.
At the beginning of the 1700s they were small but within the 100 years, they got bigger.
The growth of trade in enslaved people, in plantation crops and in exports to American and Caribbean colonies led to a growth in shipping.
Industrial revolution
Slavery provided the raw material for
industrial change and growth
the industrial revolution began in cotton production → the cotton used was mostly imported from slave plantations
The development of water and steam power created new cheap and quicker ways to produce goods
It also created a new way to make goods, usually goods were made at home before the revolution.
Transport changes allowed heavy goods to be transported easily and cheaply
Agricultural changes created food surplus
Exports and manufacturing
Cotton
1750 onwards cotton industry emerged in Britain
Previously Wool had been the most profitable
Cotton had a strong advantage which was that the machinery could process cotton better than wool.
Raw material from slavery
profit
The number of exports started to increase in North America, the West Indies and Africa. The exports in Europe to this result started to decrease.
Slavery provided British industries with raw materials
Industrial change and growth.<---
the growth of the Atlantic economy was an integral part of the growth of exports → the Atlantic economy in the 1700s was founded on slave labour
Atlantic economy in 1750's was founded on slave labour