What Were the Products of Trade and Commerce?

  1. Give four examples of products/goods/raw materials that came from the empire, where they came from and why they were important:
  • Tropical colonies like South Africa produced goods that weren’t available in Britain such as sugar, coffee, cocoa, groundnuts, copra and palm oil.
  • Tea in India was important as it became most popular British drink by 20th
    • In 1854, value was £24,000 by 1876, it was £2,429,000.
  • Cotton from India also important as it was often used to convert goods to sell back to colonies.
    • In 1854, value was £1,642,000. In 1876, it was £5,875,000.
      • Plantations built in India to grow products. Workers were often underpaid.

Gold discovery in Transvaal was significant as it caused influx of migrants (near 30,000 from Cornwall) into region, securing British interests.