Scottish Highers History The Atlantic slave trade: How important was the slave trad

Question

How important was the slave trade to the British economy in the 18th century?

Context:
The Atlantic slave trade was important in the development of the British economy in the eighteenth century. British manufacturing and industry were stimulated by the supply of factory made goods in exchange for Africans and profits from the slave trade provided the capital for investment in British industry and agriculture.

The importance of tropical crops and the profits accruing:
- the climate of land in the West Indies was utilized to the growing of luxury crops such as sugar, coffee and tobacco
- Britain made large profits from the trade in fashionable products such as sugar and tobacco which became very popular with British people.

The role of the trade in terms of navigation:
- the slave trade was an important training ground for British seamen, providing experienced crews for the Merchant Marine and the Royal Navy.
- plantations in Africa, particularly for disease, meant that the slave trade provided a kind of a graveyard for seamen.

The role of the trade in terms of manufacture:
- goods manufactured in Britain were used to buy enslaved Africans. These goods included manufactured items such as iron, ironware and tools such as pots, ploughs and cloth.
- cloth manufacturing grew. Manchester exported a large percentage of cotton goods to Africa.
- the slave trade was important to the economic prosperity and well-being of both the colonies and Britain.

The procurement of raw materials and trading patterns:
- the slave trade was important in providing British industries with raw materials which were then used to create manufactured goods in Britain and then sold for large profits in Europe.
- Liverpool grew wealthy from plantation grown cotton while Bristol's wealth was partly based on slave produced sugar.
- European goods such as rum, tobacco, coffee, sugar, molasses and cotton was bought from the profits of selling African slaves to the plantation owners and sold for profit in Britain and Europe.

Industrial development:
- there was a growth in industries supplying the slave traders with goods such as guns, alcohol, pots and pans and textiles to exchange for captured Africans on the outward passage.
- lighthouses and canals were invested in by the development of British industries influenced by the slave trade into the Welsh slate industry. Canals and railways developed by the slave trade was vital in the development of transport networks consumed in Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery thesis.
- financial services grew because of the slave trade meaning that investments could be kept low.
- there was an expansion of the service industries such as banks and insurance companies which offered financial services to slave merchants.
- by the end of the eighteenth century, the slave trade had become less important in economic terms. It has been argued that only a small percentage of the profits from the slave trade was directly invested as capital in the Industrial Revolution.

Wealth of ports and merchants:
- ports such as London, Bristol and Liverpool prospered as a direct result of their involvement in the slave trade. In the early eighteenth century, London and Bristol dominated the British end of the slave trade. Liverpool also grew into a powerful city, directly through the shipping of slaves. By the end of the eighteenth century, Liverpool controlled over 60% of the entire British slave trade. Liverpool's cotton and iron mills and other subsidiary industries such as rope made created thousands of jobs supplying goods to slave traders. Others put in jobs.
- Liverpool became a major centre for shipbuilding largely as a result of the slave trade. By the 1780s, Liverpool had become the leading port in British trade.
- the emergence of financial, commercial, legal and insurance institutions to support slave trading activities were also vital to the economy of the British economy.
- in some respects the slave trade also helped the creation of British conscriptions, but in some ways had dislocations in the economy as merchants symbols.

Any other relevant factors.

How important was the slave trade to the British economy in the 18th century? Context: The Atlantic slave trade was important in the development of the British economy in the eighteenth century - Scottish Highers History - Question 22 - 2018

Worked Solution & Example Answer:How important was the slave trade to the British economy in the 18th century? Context: The Atlantic slave trade was important in the development of the British economy in the eighteenth century - Scottish Highers History - Question 22 - 2018

Context

The importance of tropical crops and the profits accruing

The role of the trade in terms of navigation

The role of the trade in terms of manufacture

The procurement of raw materials and trading patterns

Industrial development

Wealth of ports and merchants

Any other relevant factors

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