Chapter One. The Warehouse Of The World. Commerce And Production In The Early Modern Atlantic World

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the concepts discussed in this book, which explains how trade between the Baltic and Britain - particularly, the trade in iron contributed to the world economy in the eighteenth century. It starts with a list of an inventory of goods stored in the warehouses of Crowley Hallett & Co at Deptford in 1751. The flow of exotic goods from the Atlantic world into the coffee houses and domestic parlours of bourgeois Europe is well attested by historians; the impact of oceanic trade on production networks is less familiar. An appreciation of the transnational ‘iron system’ that emerged in the eighteenth century is pertinent for historians of industrialization. One of the most significant debates of recent years over the transition to industrial society has concerned energy use.Keywords: Atlantic world; iron production; northern Europe; warehouse; world economy