Dramatic expansion of overseas trade

Part of the background against which 18th Century changes in conceptions were taking place was a dramatic increase in the trade Europe engaged in with other parts of the world.

• Foreign trade began its impact on the English economy in the latter part of the 16th Century, with the colonisation of St Helena, Jamaica and the East American Coast.. It had acquired a similar role for Portugal and Spain rather earlier.
• At the close of the 17th Century Pepys' Navy Report of 1695 records 200 ships of 50 tons or more and looks back to the beginning of the century when there were just 40. This expansion continued into the 18th C.
• Over the 18th Century English foreign trade nearly doubled
• and the British Empire was acquired.
• (James Cook discovered Australia in 1770).
• Battles and wars were fought to maintain the overseas interests of the different European powers (esp. France and Spain) - interests in North America, the Caribbean, Africa, India. Some argue that these conflicts postponed the technological developments which were to lead to the industrial revolution: some that they stimulated them.

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Revised 06:06:03