August Ludwig Schlözer’s General History of Trade and of Seafaring (1758): Cameralism, Natural History, and the Rise of Civilisation

Abstract

This chapter argues that August Ludwig Schlözer’s (1735–1809) early work Essay on General History of Trade and of Seafaring (first published in Swedish as Försök til en allmän historia om handel och sjöfart uti the äldsta tider in 1758) was a contribution to the contemporary debates on natural history, economy, and politics. As such it exemplifies the porosity of the history of trade as a genre. It is a key text through which to understand the various currents within eighteenth-century Swedish and German political economy, as well as Schlözer’s own economic and political thought. The book is a history of civilisation that emphasises that the progress of civilisations is reliant on the natural inclination of human beings to trade. In it its author explored the causes of the rise and fall of ancient Phoenician trade in order to argue that commerce created societies and enhanced communication, which in turn further supported the expansion of trade and the unity of mankind. Integrating Schlözer’s political and economic thought into the contemporary European transnational debates on natural history, and into the political life of the time makes his reasoning clear. This includes the early development of the German’s long-lasting anti-aristocratic sentiment. The chapter concludes that Schlözer’s history of trade allowed him to develop ideas springing from a variation of cameralism founded on natural history.