Activities - Summaries
Trading Links: Patterns of Information and communication
David Williams
The expansion of commerce between eastern and western Europe
during the nineteenth century was a consequence of industrialisation,
changes in communications and more liberal trade policies.
This study examines advances in communications - steam shipping,
railways and the telegraph. Each had a major impact on the
scale, pace and organisation of business - although form and
timing varied. The paper's focus is on steam shipping. Because
of its earlier development, and because ships are mobile units
of capital requiring little infrastructure, the steam vessel
was the first new mean of communication to impinge on commercial
dealings. In so doing, it prefaced and provided a context
for growing western involvement in trade, banking and investment.
Steam shipping affected commercial relationships between
East and West in various ways. Steamers represented the first
demonstration of the superiority of new technology, a feature
soon appreciated since the shift from sail to steam in East-West
European trade occurred largely between 1860 and 1880. Again,
the increasing size of steam ships and their greater operational
flexibility brought about new patterns of trade. Furthermore,
the capital requirements of steam shipping led to changes
in company structure and more complex financial organisation.
Other advances in communication came later. The railway enhanced
facilities for passengers, mails and high value freight whereas
the telegraph brought the speedier flow of information. The
vital roles of transport improvements were the facilitation
of expansion and enabling markets to function more perfectly.
The first impetus came with the steamship and the changes
it initiated serve as an exemplar of many new features of
East-West commercial relationships in the nineteenth century.
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