The Development of International Trade in London between 1500 and 1900

The Development of International Trade in London between 1500 and 1900

Between the sixteenth century and the start nineteenth century, the city of London transformed from an Anglo-Saxon city to a commercial capital first in the Continent of Europe and later across the known world. Before the growth and development of international trade in London, trade was taking place on a relatively smaller scale with other nearby settlements that neighboured London. These included the then England and Wales. The reason why London earned its status as a commercial centre lies in the fact that prior to this period, half of the city was dominated by monasteries and nunneries of the Roman Catholic Church. When King James dissolved these establishments, London naturally became somewhat of a protestant capital and this meant that it continued to experience a lot of human traffic. The commodity that was traded a lot at this time was printed material such as books and novels of both religious and scientific backgrounds.

During the early 1500s, two trading companies were formed. These are the Muscovy trading company and the British East India Company. These commercial entities were formed with the purpose of international trade between London and Russia and India Respectively. Other regions that London traded with were France and the Americas. The Muscovy Company was set up by Merchants who were associated with another trading company dedicated to exploration of distant lands for the purpose of exploiting business opportunities that may have arose in the course of their travels. This company initiallybrought British goods such as wool in exchange for furs that were being produced in Russia. Later on however, the Muscovy trading company curved a niche for itself in the whaling business when it was granted absolute monopoly in this economic sector by the then queen Elizabeth 1. This did not come as a surprise given the fact that their main trading routes followed the sea.

The British East India Company on the other hand had a much wider scope of commodities to trade in including salt, gunpowder, spices, fabrics, cotton, opium and several dyes.it was owned by merchants and Aristocrats from London and like the MuscovyCompany, the main trading routes followed were by sea. This company ensured a steady supply of the above mentioned commodities into the city and also created a market for goods locally produced (Willan, 1956).

As trade increased in London, so did its population. When this happened, demand for essential as well as non-essential commodities increased. This led to the vast expansion of the city as well as overcrowding which was a result of rapid population growth in a city whose facilities were limited. A testament of this fact was the great fire of London and the plagues that successively decimated this city’s population. The invention of the steam engine and its application to manufacturing paved way for the industrial revolution that changed the face of London completely. Factories were now able to manufacture finished goods in bulk because the engines that were being invented at the time greatly shortened the processing time of different goods.

The steam engine also made its way to overland transportation with the advent of steam powered trains capable of transporting tons of raw materials, finished goods and hundreds of passengers across vast distances this enabling supply, shopping and distribution.

 

 

References

Willan, T. (1956) The Early History of the Russia Company( reprinted in 1968)

 

 

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