Europe's New World - Growing Trade

Europe’s new World - Growing trade

intertwined with imperialism

The distinction of white linen, the rare treat of sweetness, the still rarer taste of coffee that made its drinkers sparkle, and the cravings they’ve inspired. Limited access to water influenced drinking habits, cooking, hygiene, and sartorial (tailoring/clothing) practices. Housewives and laundresses coped with mountains of dirty linen by the river or by the pond. The great sent their laundry to the American islands for a whiter wash; the poor rioted for soap as well as bread. Society moved from an economy of scarcity and salvation to one of plenty and prodigality. But the move was slow and spotty. The world we have lost was ripe for rejectionIn the mid-eighteenth century Britain the world’s greatest trading nation. Manufacturers export a wide variety of textiles and hardware. Rich London and Bristol merchants imported tropical goods and more modest provincial merchants dealt in Baltic timber and grain. Two century earlier, England had been an economic backwater, exporting unfinished heavy woolen cloth to the Low Countries for further finishing before their sale throughout