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Trade and Commerce - Coggle Diagram
Trade and Commerce
Free trade
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industry thrived through a system of food and raw materials sent to Britain and converted to finished goods for export- often bought back by colonies
in the mid-late 19th century, around 20% of Britain's imports were from it's own colonies and Empire provided around a third of British exports
City of London became world's financial capital, sterling became main currency of international trade
Railways
Enabled Australia to export it's wheat and wool, offered South Africa a chance to expand it's territories
in India, railways linked the cotton and jute-growing areas of the north with the mills of Bombay and Calcutta
In less westernised areas, e.g West Africa provided vital links between areas of production and the sea
Investment in railways provided invisible trade and earnings as trading commodities, spread of railways within Empire facilitated commercial enterprise
Agriculture
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Tropical colonies e.g South Africa produced goods not available in Britain such as sugar, coffee and palm oil (although production was small scale)
Indian labourers were sent to work in Caribbean colonies or in South Africa- indentured workers were often paid low wages for hard unpleasant work
Tea plantations in India, sugar in Mauritius and Natal
Mining
1886, gold found in Witwatersrand promopted a gold rush to the underdeveloped Dutch-Boer republic of the Transvaal- 30,000 skilled labourers travelled from Britain
Gold along the Gold Coast, diamonds in Sierra Leone helped develop these colonies
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Industry
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Underdeveloped areas were propelled to modernise though their independent economic development was curbed as Britain controlled and exploited their colonies
Disadvantaged: Indian textile industry was destroyed when Indian-run mills could not compete in price with British imported textiles
Shipping
1860s, clippers (fast, suited to high-profit, low-volume goods though short life expectancy)- travelled the world carrying tea, opium and spices
Steam engine invented in the 1850s led to development of steamships for heavy good, with reduced travel time
Canals and Rivers
To facilitate trade, rivers straightened/ deepened / diverted despite ecological effects- In Canada, after 1867, canals were deepened around the St Lawrence seaway system to overcome hight differences between Lakes Eyrie and Ontario
Internal river systems were important means of transport for trading products- many explorers quest to map these
Chartered Companies
Gained status and legal privileges such as a right for 'monopoly' which competitors couldn't challenge
Royal Niger Company (1886) permitted trade in the lands surrounding the Niger river and permission for expansion Northwards- the company acted as a government for the Niger river
Mercantilism/ protectionist- system of regulations governing trade, using tariffs on imported goods
Initially, Empire strictly mercantile, a change in attitude led to free trade