Impact of Industrial Revolution on International Trade

Prior to unfolding of the events in the 18th century the interlinkages of increasingly global world, stirred agrarian and rural society's. In particular, the families had begun to produce surplus and buying new commodities, which were hitherto, considered luxuries. This era of industrious revolution laid the foundation for the industrial revolution. The trade in this time to Europe was mainly spices from India, silk and porcelain from China and inspite of silver flowing in from Americas kept the balance in favour of the East. The capital and labour requirements were not intensive and the mercantile activities were primarily housed in the guilds. This essay attempts to understand how the industrial revolution impacted the commerce

The 18th to 19th century, a period of industrial revolution shows three distinct movements of trade, labour and capital within international exchanges, that can be best understood when they are looked at together.

Trade:

In the 17th century traditionally, regions were self-sufficient in food but as the population grew particularly, in Europe the demand increased thereby, increasing the food prices. Eventually, the Corn Laws were abolished leading to import of cheaper food consequently, increasing the consumption. Thus food products inspite of higher bulk ratio became the most significant item of trade. The Americas with its plantation crops such as sugarcane, cotton, cocoa, coffee and banana became the food basket for the Europe.

With the industrialisation the supply chain changed to add value to the product, as in the case of meat, till the 1870s, live animals were shipped from America and then slaughtered in Europe for consumption. The transportation costs made meat an expensive food product, howev...

... middle of paper ...

...rimary products being resourced from one place, secondary product in another place and tertiary product resourced from elsewhere thereby profoundly changing the world trade with increasing polarisation towards free flow of labour, capital and commodities.

The separate trading spheres were more interconnected and the trade was reaching out and affecting the lives of the common man, the new enterprises, services and sectors emerged. and fortunes grew. The new cities of Bristol, Bombay and Buenos Aires provided the home to flourishing neighborhoods for bourgeoisie and advertising for newer commodities became an order of the day.

All these eventually led to division of labor where some regions specialized in the manufacturing and others in raw material. England, Europe and USA were the chief beneficiaries at the expense of artisan driven econmy of India and China.