economic development

How did economic development progress

• continued growth of trade , most especially the cloth trade with the netherlands; a growth in trade further with Turkey,Russia and india

• Expeditions of John Hawkins, Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh greater contact was made with the wider world

• East India company 1600

Poor harvests

9 off the 44 with 4 being from 1594-1597 those harvests were particularly hard

Elizabethan government success

In the time of bad harvests there was only the oxfordshire uprising which shows how successful Elizabeth’s government was in dealing with the poor relief offered and the spy network by Walsingham

Elizabethan economic settlement

1559-1563

• regulated land use for grain and timber together with these measures concerning English exports

• the passing of a new navigation act and the statute of artificers - which sought to control wages

although these did not eliminate entire periods of depression they did minimise the potential for a threatening rebellion

internal trade and foreign trade

internal trade exceeded the value of foreign trade with the biggest development being the growth in shipping of coal from Tyne to Thames to meet the demand of the london market

The cloth trade

the cloth trade with the Netherlands, remained important but had still declined in significance Sir William Cecil was anxious for political reasons of the sole dependance on one market

• attempts to establish new markets occured such as in Russia but these remained minimal

changes in english trading patterns

in the 1580s:

• main markets for English wool had moved from the southern to the northern netherlands

• Increase in trade with the Ottoman empire

Muscovy

The muscovy company had been incorporated in 1555 to trade with Russia and Northern Europe but hadd failed in the long term to compete effectivley with the Dutch

limitations in English trade - dominance of dutch trade

Eastland

Eastland company set up in 1579 to trade with the Baltic but the impact was limited

• shows attempts to expand and develop

East india company

set up in 1600 to trade with Asia but it had less investment compared to the Dutch East India company and found it difficult to compete long term

newfoundland

(1583): On August 5, 1583, Gilbert landed at St. John's, Newfoundland, and formally took possession of the harbour and for Queen Elizabeth I. This established the first English colony in North America, although it was not a permanent, self-sustaining settlement.

why did elizabeth allow the east india company to be established and what was its remit

primarily to enable English merchants to compete with the Spanish and Portuguese, who dominated the lucrative spice trade, and to counter the growing influence of the Dutch in Southeast Asia. The charter granted a 15-year monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. 

starvation

newcastle reported burying 25 people in the 1590s due to starvation

bad harvests had hit the far north harder

real wages

by 1596 they had dropped to half of what they were 9 years earlier

traditional trade

• England mainly traded cloth (woollen cloth)

• Main markets: Antwerp (Netherlands)

• By 1560s, cloth made up around 80% of English exports

⚠ Problem: Over-reliance on one product and one market

Trade disruption

• 1568: Relations with Spain worsened → trade with Antwerp declined

• Spanish embargoes damaged English merchants

• Forced England to look for new markets

explorationcolonisation

• Sir Francis Drake

  • 1577–1580: Circumnavigated the globe

  • Brought back huge wealth

• Sir Walter Raleigh

  • Sponsored exploration in America

• Martin Frobisher

  • 1576–1578: Searched for North-West Passage (failed)

Colonisation

• Sponsored by Raleigh

• 1585: First attempt → failed (lack of supplies)

• 1587: Second attempt → colony disappeared (“Lost Colony”)

📌 Key judgement:

• Colonisation failed during Elizabeth’s reign

• BUT it laid foundations for later success under James I

population

• Population grew from ~3 million (1558) to ~4 million (1603)

• More workers + consumers

• Encouraged expansion of towns

cost of living

1540-49 - 167

1560-69 - 269

wage rates fell (statute of artificers)

1560-69 66

1600-09 - 50

wages of london building workers

London Building worker , wages remained stable - 1560-69 82

1600-09 - 72

Labour

around 40% of the population were unskilled labourers

could easily become destitute

inequality

Richest 23% of the population owned 55% of all taxable wealt

taxation

Taxation: The Poor Law (1601) forced the gentry to pay taxes to support the suffering lower classes, slightly reducing their surplus wealth.

the bad harvests of the 1590s

• Detailed Economic Issue: This was the one real "subsistence crisis" of the reign. While 9 out of 44 harvests under Elizabeth were poor, this consecutive run was catastrophic.

• Key Statistic: By 1596, real wages had collapsed to less than half the level they had been just nine years earlier in 1587.

Impact: The crisis combined with population growth to create a "pool of surplus labour," which depressed industrial demand because the purchasing power of wage-earners was destroyed—they spent everything on food.

the enclosure of common land

• Detailed Economic Issue: Landlords sought to "jack up their rental income" or convert arable land to pasture (sheep) for the wool trade. This physically displaced the workforce.

• Rebellion: This issue was the primary trigger for the 1596 Oxfordshire Rebellion. However, the "rebellion" was an economic fiasco where only four men showed up at Mousehill Heath, suggesting that while economic distress was high, it was not enough to destabilize the regime politically.

• Consequence: Tenants with weak leases could not afford legal redress and were forced to sell out to neighbours, swelling the ranks of the "landless agricultural labourers" or vagrants.

slave trade

• Detailed Economic Issue: Hawkins "invented the English slave trade," acquiring enslaved people in Africa to sell in South America.

• Financial Reality: The first two voyages were financially successful and attracted investment from prominent courtiers like the Earl of Leicester and even Queen Elizabeth (who supplied ships for a profit).

• The Turning Point: The third expedition (1568) was an economic disaster. His fleet was blockaded at San Juan de Ulúa (Mexico), damaging Anglo-Spanish relations and resulting in the loss of ships and potential profit.

poor law

• Detailed Economic Issue: This formalized poor relief by introducing a "poor rate"—a tax levied on the wealthy (nobles and gentry) to support the destitute.

• Motivation: It was not an act of benevolence but of economic anxiety; the government feared "social disturbance" and vagrancy following the crisis of the 1590s.

Significance: It serves as evidence against total "economic depression," as it shows the state was wealthy and organized enough to implement a national tax system to support the "deserving poor".