British Imports and Exports during the early Georgian period
The following information about Imports and Exports is taken from London in 1731 by Don Manoel Gonzales. The full text is available from Project Gutenberg. The lists of traded items are taken verbatim from that document.
| Country | Controlled by | Britain exports | Britain imports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | Hamburg/German Merchants | broad-cloth, druggets, long-ells, serges, and several sorts of stuffs, tobacco, sugar, ginger, East India goods, tin, lead, and several other commodities | prodigious quantities of linen, linen-yarn, kid-skins, tin-plates, and a great many other commodities |
| Russia | Russia Company | coarse cloth, long- ells, worsted stuffs, tin, lead, tobacco, and a few other commodities | hemp, flax, linen cloth, linen yarn, Russia leather, tallow, furs, iron, potashes, etc., to an immense value |
| Norway and Denmark | Eastland Company | guineas, crown-pieces, bullion, a little tobacco, and a few coarse woollens | vast quantities of deal boards, timber, spars, and iron |
| Sweden | Eastland Company | gold and silver, and but a small quantity of the manufactures and production of England | near two-thirds of the iron wrought up or consumed in the kingdom, copper, boards, plank, etc. |
| Turkey and the Eastern Mediterrean | Turkey/Levant Company | broadcloth, long-ells, tins, lead, and some iron (also sugar sourced from France and Lisbon) | raw silk, grogram yarn, dyeing stuffs of sundry kinds, drugs, soap; leather, cotton, and some fruit, oil, etc. |
| India and China | East India Company | great quantities of bullion, lead, English cloth, and some other goods | tea, china ware, cabinets, raw and wrought silks, coffee, muslins, calicoes, and other goods |
| Africa | Royal African Company | [slaves]1 | gold dust and other commodities, as red wood, elephants' teeth, Guinea grain |
| Canary Islands | Canary Company | baize, kerseys, serges, Norwich stuffs, and other woollen manufactures; stockings, hats, fustians, haberdashery wares, tin, and hardware; as also herrings, pilchards, salted flesh, and grain; linens, pipe- staves, hoops, etc. | wines, logwood, hides, indigo, cochineal, and other commoditiesi, the produce of America and the West Indies |
| Canada | Independent Merchants | woollen goods and haberdashery wares, knives, hatchets, arms, and other hardware | beaver-skins, and other skins and furs |
| Italy | Independent Merchants | broad-cloth, long-ells, baize, druggets, callimancoes, camlets, and divers other stuffs; leather, tin, lead, great quantities of fish, as pilchards, herrings, salmon, Newfoundland cod, etc., pepper, and other East India goods | raw, thrown, and wrought silk, wine, oil, soap, olives, some dyer's wares, anchovies, etc. |
| Spain | Independent Merchants | broad-cloth, druggets, callimancoes, baize, stuff of divers kinds, leather, fish, tin, lead, corn, etc. | wine, oil, fruit of divers kinds, wool, indigo, cochineal, and dyeing stuffs |
| Portugal | Independent Merchants | broad-cloth, druggets, baize, long- ells, callimancoes, and all other sorts of stuffs; as well as tin, lead, leather, fish, corn, and other English commodities | great quantities of wine, oil, salt, and fruit, and gold, both in bullion and specie |
| France | Independent Merchants | Wool [mostly smuggled], tobacco, sugar, tin, lead, coals, a few stuffs, serges, flannels, and a small matter of broad-cloth | wine, brandy, linen, lace, fine cambrics, and cambric lawns, to a prodigious value; brocades, velvets, and many other rich silk manufactures |
| Flanders | Independent Merchants | serges, a few flannels, a very few stuffs, sugar, tobacco, tin, and lead | fine lace, fine cambrics, and cambric-lawns, Flanders whited linens, threads, tapes, incles, and divers other commodities, to a very great value |
| Holland | Independent Merchants | broad-cloth, druggets, long-ells, stuffs of a great many sorts, leather, corn, coals, and something of almost every kind that this kingdom produces; besides all sorts of India and Turkey re-exported goods, sugars, tobacco, rice, ginger, pitch and tar, and sundry other commodities of the produce of our American plantations | great quantities of fine Holland linen, threads, tapes, and incles; whale fins, brass battery, madder, argol, with a large number of other commodities and toys; clapboard, wainscot, etc. |
| Ireland | Independent Merchants | fine broad-cloth, rich silks, ribbons, gold and silver lace, manufactured iron and cutlery wares, pewter, great quantities of hops, coals, dyeing wares, tobacco, sugar, East India goods, raw silk, hollands, and almost everything they use, but linens, coarse woollens, and eatables | woollen yarn, linen yarn, great quantities of wool in the fleece, and some tallow |
| Sugar Plantations2 | Independent Merchants | all sorts of clothing, both linen, silks, and woollen; wrought iron, brass, copper, all sorts of household furniture, and a great part of their food | sugar, ginger, and several commodities, and all the bullion and gold they can meet with |
| Tobacco Plantations3 | Independent Merchants | clothing, household goods, iron manufactures of all sorts, saddles, bridles, brass and copper wares; and notwithstanding they dwell among the woods, they take their very turnery wares, and almost everything else that may be called the manufacture of England | not only what tobacco is consumed at home, but very great quantities for re-exportation |
1. The Africa Company did not export as such. Instead it gathered and sold African slaves for use on plantations and paid for imports with the proceeds.
2. 3. Sugar and Tobacco Plantations are listed in the same way as countries, demonstrating the enormous wealth these entities generated.