Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T13:32:55.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Opening to the East: Shipping Between Europe and Asia, 1770–1830

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Peter M. Solar*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics at Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and at Université Saint-Louis—Bruxelles. Mailing address: Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: psolar@vub.ac.be.

Abstract

Shipping costs between Europe and Asia were reduced by two-thirds between the 1770s and the 1820s. Copper sheathing and other technical improvements which allowed ships to make more frequent voyages over longer lifetimes accounted for part of the cost reduction. British hegemony in the Indian Ocean, which ended an eighteenth-century arms race, accounted for the rest by allowing the substitution of smaller ships which cost less to build and required fewer men per ton. These changes were at least as important as the elimination of monopoly profits in narrowing intercontinental price differentials during the early nineteenth century.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Steve Behrendt, Erik Aerts, Erik Gøbel, Ingrid Henriksen, Silvia Marzagalli, Johan Söderberg, John Turner, Simon Ville, and Eugene White kindly helped me access information from various corners of shipping history. Jan de Vries, Michael Fisher, Oscar Gelderblom, Luc Hens, Adrian Leonard, Peter Maw, Cormac Ó Gráda, Kim Oosterlinck, Richard Unger, Jeffrey Williamson, and Jan Luiten Van Zanden read earlier versions of the article and provided me with many useful comments. Without such generous colleagues, this venture into global history would have been much more arduous and much less fun. I am also grateful to participants in seminars at King's College, London and at Cambridge for their contributions. Finally, special thanks go to Elzbieta D'Hayère who has cheerfully and efficiently obtained for me books from libraries all over Western Europe.

References

REFERENCES

Allen, Robert C.Engels' Pause: Technical Change, Capital Accumulation, and Inequality in the British Industrial Revolution.” Explorations in Economic History 46, no. 4 (2009a): 418–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Robert C.The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009b.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Robert C.Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auber, Peter. An Analysis of the Constitution of the East India Company. London: Kingsbury, 1826.Google Scholar
Bowen, Hugh V.The Business of Empire: The East India Company and Imperial Britain, 1756–1833. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
British Library. India Office Records. (BL, IOR).Google Scholar
Bruijn, J. R.Commanders of Dutch East India Company Ships in the Eighteenth Century. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Bruijn, J. R., Gaastra, F. S., and Schöffer, I.. Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Vol. II: Outward-Bound Voyages from the Netherlands to Asia and the Cape (1595–1794). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979.Google Scholar
Bruijn, J. R., Gaastra, F. S., and Schöffer, I.. Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Vol. 1, Introductory Volume. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987.Google Scholar
Bulbeck, David, et al. Southeast Asian Exports Since the Fourteenth Century: Cloves, Pepper, Coffee, and Sugar. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlos, Ann M., and Nicholas, Stephen. “Giants of an Earlier Capitalism: The Early Chartered Trading Companies as Modern Multinationals.” Business History Review 62, no. 3 (1988): 389419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlos, Ann M., and Nicholas, Stephen. “Agency Problems in Early Chartered Companies: The Case of the Hudson's Bay Company.” The Journal of Economic History 50, no. 4 (1990): 853–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlos, Ann M., and Nicholas, Stephen. “Theory and History: Seventeenth-Century Joint Stock Chartered Trading Companies.” The Journal of Economic History 56, no. 4 (1996): 916–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaudhuri, K. N.Foreign Trade and the Balance of Payments (1757–1947).” In The Cambridge Economic History of India. Edited by Kumar, Dharma, Vol. 2, 804–77. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, R. “Capital Formation in Shipping.” In Aspects of Capital Investment in Great Britain, 1750–1850, edited by Higgins, J. P. P. and Pollard, Sidney, 131–48. London: Methuen, 1971.Google Scholar
Dagblad van's Gravenhage, 28 May 1830.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, A.A Fair State of the Case Between the East India Company and the Owners of Ships Now in Their Service. London: Bigg, 1786.Google Scholar
Davis, Ralph. The Rise of the English Shipping Industry in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London: Macmillan, 1962.Google Scholar
Dermigny, Louis. Cargaisons Indiennes: Solier et Cie, 1781–1793. Paris: SEVPEN, 1959.Google Scholar
Dermigny, Louis. La Chine et l'Occident: Le Commerce à Canton au XVIIIe Siècle, 1719–1833. Paris: SEVPEN, 1964.Google Scholar
De Vries, Jan. “Connecting Europe and Asia: A Quantitative Analysis of the Cape-Route Trade, 1497–1795.” In Global Connections and Monetary History, 1470–1800, edited by Flynn, Dennis O., Giraldez, Arturo, and von Glahn, Richard, 34106. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.Google Scholar
De Vries, Jan. “The Limits of Globalization in the Early Modern World.” Economic History Review 63, no. 3 (2010): 710–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dillo, Ingrid G.Made to Measure? A Comparative Approach to the System and Costs of English and Dutch Shipping to Asia in the Eighteenth Century.” In Anglo-Dutch Mercantile Marine Relations, 1700–1850, edited by Bruijn, J. R. and Mörzer Bruyns, W. F. J., 5765. Leiden: Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, 1991.Google Scholar
Erikson, Emily, and Bearman, Peter. “Malfeasance and the Foundations for Global Trade: The Structure of English Trade in the East Indies, 1601–1833.” American Journal of Sociology 112, no. 1 (2006): 195230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrington, Anthony J.Catalogue of East Company Ships' Journals and Logs, 1600–1834. London: British Library, 1999.Google Scholar
Fayle, C. Ernest. A Short History of British Shipping. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1934.Google Scholar
Feinstein, Charles H. “Capital Formation in Great Britain.” In Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. 7, Part 1, edited by Mathias, Peter and Postan, M. M., 2896. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldbæk, Ole. “Danish East India Trade, 1772–1807: Statistics and Structure.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 26, no. 2 (1978): 128–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldbæk, Ole. The Organization and Structure of Danish East India, West India and Guinea Companies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1979.Google Scholar
France. Tableaux du Commerce et de la Navigation, 1825–1829.Google Scholar
French, C. J.Productivity in the Atlantic Shipping Industry: A Quantitative Study.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 17, no. 3 (1987): 613–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, James W.The Indian Saltpeter Trade, the Military Revolution, and the Rise of Britain as a Global Superpower.” The Historian 71, no. 3 (2009): 508–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furber, Holden. “The Beginnings of American Trade with India, 1784–1812.” New England Quarterly 11, no. 2 (1938): 235–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaastra, F. S., and Bruijn, J. R.. “The Dutch East India Company's Shipping, 1602–1795, in a Comparative Perspective.” In Ships, Sailors, and Spices: East India Companies and Their Shipping in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Bruijn, Jaap R. and Gaastra, Femme S., 177208. Amsterdam: NEHA, 1993.Google Scholar
Gardiner, Robert. The Victory of Seapower. London: Caxton Editions, 2002.Google Scholar
Glete, Jan. Navies and Nations: Warships, Navies, and State Building in Europe and American, 1500–1860. 2 vols. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1993.Google Scholar
Gøbel, Erik. “Danish Companies' Shipping to Asia, 1616–1807.” In Ships, Sailors, and Spices: East India Companies and Their Shipping in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Bruijn, Jaap R. and Gaastra, Femme S., 99120. Amsterdam: NEHA, 1993.Google Scholar
Gore's General Advertiser, 1828.Google Scholar
Graham, Gerald S.The Politics of Naval Supremacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Graham, Gerald S.Great Britain in the Indian Ocean: A Study of Maritime Enterprise, 1810–1850. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.Google Scholar
Hardy, Charles. Ships Employed in the Service of the Honourable the United East India Company from the Year 1760 to 1810. London: Heseltine, 1811.Google Scholar
Hardy, Charles. Supplement to a Register of Ships Employed in the Service of the Honourable: The United East India Company from the Year 1760 to the Conclusion of the Commercial Charter. London: Parbury Allen & Co., 1835.Google Scholar
Harley, C. Knick. “Ocean Freight Rates and Productivity, 1740–1913: The Primacy of Mechanical Invention Reaffirmed.” The Journal of Economic History 48, no. 4 (1988): 851–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, John R.Copper and Shipping in the Eighteenth Century.” Economic History Review 19, no. 3 (1966): 550–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haudrère, Philippe. La Compagnie Française de Indes au XVIIIe siècle (1719–1795). 4 vols. Paris: Librarie de l'Inde, 1989.Google Scholar
Haudrère, Philippe. “Jalons pour une histoire des compagnies des Indes.” Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer 78, no. 290 (1991): 927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillmann, Henning, and Gathmann, Christina. “Overseas Trade and the Decline of Privateering.” The Journal of Economic History 71, no. 3 (2011): 730–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horlings, Edwin. The Economic Development of the Dutch Service Sector, 1800–1850. Amsterdam: NEHA, 1995.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Els M.Merchant in Asia: The Trade of the Dutch East India Company During the Eighteenth Century. Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2006.Google Scholar
John, Arthur H.The London Assurance Company and the Marine Insurance Market of the Eighteenth Century.” Economica 25, no. 98 (1958): 126–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. R. H., and Ville, Simon P.. “Efficient Transactors or Rent-Seeking Monopolists? The Rationale for Early Chartered Trading Companies.” The Journal of Economic History 56, no. 4 (1996): 898915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkaldy, Adam W.British Shipping: Its History, Organization, and Importance. London: Kegan Paul, 1914.Google Scholar
Kjellberg, Sven T.Svenska Ostindiska Compagnierna, 1731–1813. Malmö: Allhems Förlag, 1974.Google Scholar
Lane, Frederic C.Venice and History. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lavery, Brian. “Warships as East Indiamen.” In Les flottes des Compagnies des Indes, 1600–1857, edited by Haudrère, Philippe, 3139. Vincennes: Service historique de la Marine, 1996.Google Scholar
Le Bouëdec, Gérard.Les négociants lorientais et les Compagnies des Indes. Les Arnoux, du négoce du bois à la construction navale et à l'armement (1750–1794).” In Les flottes des Compagnies des Indes, 1600–1857, edited by Haudrère, Philippe, 133–48. Vincennes: Service historique de la Marine, 1996.Google Scholar
Lloyd's List, 1807–1820, 1823–1826.Google Scholar
Lloyd's Register, 1818–1830.Google Scholar
London Mercantile Price Current, 1828.Google Scholar
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA).Google Scholar
London Price Current, 1825.Google Scholar
Lucassen, Jan, and Unger, Richard W.. “Shipping, Productivity, and Economic Growth.” In Shipping and Economic Growth, 1350–1850, edited by Unger, Richard W., 4780. Leiden: Brill, 2011.Google Scholar
Marshall, Peter J.Western Arms in Maritime Asia in the Early Phases of Expansion.” Modern Asia Studies 14, no. 1 (1980): 1328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Peter J.Private British Trade in the Indian Ocean Before 1800.” In India and the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800, edited by Gupta, Ashin Das and Pearson, M. N., 276300. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Martin, Robert Montgomery. British Relations with the Chinese Empire in 1832. London: Parbury Allen & Co., 1832.Google Scholar
Menard, Russell R.Transport Costs and Long-Range Trade, 1300–1800: Was There a European Transport Revolution in the Early Modern Era?” In The Political Economy of Merchant Empires, edited by Tracy, James D., 228–75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milburn, William. Oriental Commerce. 2 vols. London: Black, Perry & Co., 1813.Google Scholar
Møller, Anders Monrad. Københavns handelsflåde, 1814–1832. En historisk statistisk detailundersøgelse. København: Akademisk Forlag, 1974.Google Scholar
Mui, Hoh-cheung, and Mui, Lorna H.. The Management of a Monopoly: A Study of the English East India Company's Conduct of Its Tea Trade, 1784–1833. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Frederick L.The Formation of the New East India Company of Calonne.” American Historical Review 38, no. 3 (1933): 475–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin, and Williamson, Jeffrey G.. “When Did Globalisation Begin?European Review of Economic History 6, no. 1 (2002): 2350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, C. Northcote. Trade in the Eastern Seas, 1793–1813. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1937.Google Scholar
Philips, C. H.The East India Company, 1784–1834. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1940.Google Scholar
Rees, Gareth. “Copper Sheathing: An Example of Technological Diffusion in the English Merchant Fleet.” Journal of Transport History 1, no. 2 (1971): 8594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, Rhys. “United States Trade with China, 1784–1814.” American Neptune 54, Special Supplement (1994).Google Scholar
Robinson, Margaret. “Lancaster's Sail-Cloth Trade in the Eighteenth Century.” Contrebis 26 (2001): 3537.Google Scholar
Romano, Ruggiero. “Per una valutazione della flotta mercantile europea alla fine del secolo XVIII.” In Studi in onore di Amintore Fanfani, Vol. 5, 575–91. 6 vols. Milan: Giuffré, 1962.Google Scholar
Starkey, David J.Quantifying British Seafarers, 1789–1828.” In Maritime Labour: Contributions to the History of Work at Sea, 1500–2000, edited by Gorski, Richard, 83103. Amsterdam: Aksant, 2007.Google Scholar
Sugihara, Kaori. “The Resurgence of Intra-Asian Trade, 1800–1850.” In How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500–1850, edited by Riello, Giorgio and Roy, Tirthankar, 139–69. Leiden: Brill, 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, Jean. Lords of the East: The East India Company and Its Ships. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Sweden. Generalsammandrag over Rikets import och export / Generaltullstyrelsen, 1820–1829.Google Scholar
Tarling, Nicholas. Anglo-Dutch Rivalry in the Malay World, 1780–1824. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Toussaint, Auguste. La Route des Iles. Paris: SEVPEN, 1967.Google Scholar
Unger, Richard. “Ship Design and Energy Use, 1350–1875.” In Shipping and Economic Growth, 1350–1850, edited by Lucassen, Jan and Unger, Richard W., 249–67. Leiden: Brill, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Kingdom. House of Commons. B.P.P. 1831-2 (735I). Minutes of Evidence Before the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company.Google Scholar
United Kingdom. House of Commons. BPP 1833 (001). Tables of the Revenue, Part 1.Google Scholar
United Kingdom. House of Commons. B.P.P. 1835 (690). Report from the Select Committee on Manufactures, Commerce, and Shipping.Google Scholar
United Kingdom. House of Commons. B.P.P. 1847-48 (511). Select Committee on the Growth of Cotton in India.Google Scholar
United Kingdom. House of Lords. Journals.Google Scholar
United States. American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, Vol. 1.Google Scholar
United States. Reports on Commerce and Navigation, 1820–1829.Google Scholar
Lottum, Van, Jelle, Jan Lucassen, and Van Voss, Lex Heerma. “Sailors, National, and International Labour Markets, and National Identity, 1600–1850.” In Shipping and Economic Growth, 1350–1850, edited by Lucassen, Jan and Unger, Richard W., 309–51. Leiden: Brill, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Tielhof, Milja, and Van Zanden, Jan Luiten. “Productivity Changes in Shipping in the Dutch Republic: The Evidence from Freight Rates, 1550–1800.” In Shipping and Economic Growth, 1350–1850, edited by Lucassen, Jan and Unger, Richard W., 4780. Leiden: Brill, 2011.Google Scholar
Velschow, Tim. “Voyages of the Danish Asiatic Company to India and China, 1772–1792.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 20, no. 2 (1972): 133–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veyssière, Marion. “Les voyages français en Chine. Vaisseaux et equipages (1720–1793).” Thèse, Ecole Nationale des Chartes, 2000.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. English Shipowning During the Industrial Revolution: Michael Henley and Son, London Shipowners, 1770–1830. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Ville, Simon. “The Growth of Specialization in English Shipping, 1750–1850.” Economic History Review 46, no. 4 (1993): 702–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warden, A. J.The Linen Trade. London: Longman, 1864.Google Scholar