By 1800, the Industrial Revolution was well under way in the British Isles, and from the very beginning of the industrial era, Britain needed certain imports. Her industrial development was founded on abundant supplies of cheap coal, good coke, and iron ore; on a large and efficient body of laborers; and on large numbers of skilled artisans. To produce the machines, engines, locomotives, and steamships that the British manufactured at relatively low cost, the heavy industries imported high-grade ores from Sweden to mix with their low-grade ores. The wool-textile industry early outstripped domestic supplies, and its growth depended on imports. The entire cotton industry of Lancashire was developed because supplies of cotton were available, chiefly from the United States.
Over the years, the only basic commodity in which the British have been self-sufficient is coal. All of her cotton and petroleum are now and have always been imported from overseas. By the 1930's, nine-tenths of the wool and timber and one-third of the iron ores used by British industry arrived by ship. Ships also brought to the United Kingdom four-fifths of her wheat, two-fifths of her meat, and all of her rice, tea, coffee, bananas, and citrus fruits.
The basic foodstuffs to feed Europe's industrial workers and the raw materials for the factories came primarily from the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries were, for the most part, closely tied to Britain economically, culturally, and politically. The largest stream of overseas trade was fed into world commerce not by the regions of colonial exploitation but from areas of settled government and efficient economic production. Trade with Europe developed these areas, for agricultural exports provided an excellent way of paying interest on and eventually amortizing debts to Europe.
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