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Britain's Empire And The Development Of America Essay

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Britain's Empire And The Development Of America Essay
How does tobacco link Britain’s empire and America’s development from 1600s onwards?

The trade of tobacco was vital in the development of America and the British Empire throughout the 17th and 18th century. It was a source of trade for both, and helped further the British Empire and lead to the independence of America.
During the early 1600s, Britain was still largely based on agricultural and production industries. Even though their agricultural industries were flourishing, their economy still wasn’t very strong due to the massive population. Moreover Britain wasn’t yet seen as a major country in Europe so they decided to send merchants out to America to establish a network of colonies to trade with. In 1606 the Virginia Company of London received a charter from King James
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If it wasn’t for John Rolfe’s experiments in tobacco there wouldn’t be this multibillion pound industry in tobacco in Britain which is still around today. In addition it gave the British working men an opportunity to make a living for themselves so they could provide for their families as it opened up a lot of jobs on tobacco plantations. Also through expanding the slave trade more plantation owners started to buy slaves to do their labour as they would work for long hours and get paid less leading to the growth of America and Britain’s economy as there would be an increase of production in tobacco for the fraction of the cost. Britain was receiving more goods to sell and America was producing more goods to trade and by increasing Britain’s land it gave them status and soon became one of the strongest countries in Europe. Overall the main link between Tobacco and the British Empire and Americas development is that it was an industry with financial success it developed the British economy and gave them more territory which allowed Americans to have and better quality of

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