Economic development in Elizabethan England

trade

• value of internal trade exceeded foreign trade

• luxury goods were becoming available

• cloth trade was diversified

• other trade route attempts but remained marginal

• main centre for English merchants/traders in Africa was Guinea

• John Hawkins (invented slave trade)

• 3 expeditions from 1562 acquiring slaves and selling them in South America

• third was a disaster because Hawkins’ ships were blockaded in the port of San Juan de Ulua in Mexico by a Spanish fleet

• Elizabeth’s support was significant because it showed she was willing to annoy the Spanish for the prospect of treasure

two main changes to English trading in the 1580s

• market for wool moved from south to north Netherlands

• more trade with the Ottoman Empire

• English trade was backwards

new trading partners 1580s

• the Muscovy company has been incorporated in 1555 to trade with Russia and Northern Europe, though it failed in the long term to compete effectively with the Dutch

• the Eastland company was set up in 1579 to trade in the Baltic but had a similarly limited effect

• the Levant company, founded in 1581 as the Turkish company, enjoyed success in its attempts to develop trade with the Ottomans

• the East India company was set up in 1600 to trade with Asia, but it had less investment compared with the Dutch East India company, and therefore found it very difficult to compete in the short term

• cause of modern capitalism, joint-stock companies

exploration and colonisation

exploration and colonisation

• exploration and settlement of America grew in importance during the reign of Elizabeth

• Humphrey Gilbert, an explorer and businessman, proposed the idea of settlements in the Americas

• Hakluyt’s A Discourse of Western Planting (1584) which was presented to the Queen by Walter Raleigh, it promoted the idea of settlement

• sir Francis Walsingham financially and the queen backed the expeditions

• first settlers landed at the island Roanoke

• not successful

Prosperity and trade

Urban prosperity

economic depression

the Elizabethan govt tended to react to crisis situations as and when they arose. But there was an awareness that legislation brought wealth to the country

The statute of artificers 1563 - which was quicky superseded

2 navigation acts to promote English ships

acts to regulate trade, cloth, coal, leather, iron and timber

the main concern was for public order during the economic crises

the govt did develop closer links with agriculture and industry through its increased involvement in joint-stock companies

‘exploration and colonisation beyond Europe were responsible for economic growth in England in the reign of Elizabeth i’