Leadership was seemingly absent as the last of the old and experienced leaders passed on and the new leaders took over. One of the new leaders, referred to as the nawab of Bengal took control of the British port and ordered for payment of increased tax from the British. This move was obviously advised by the French and was directed towards killing the British trade in India. However, Britain refused to comply with this order and instead countered this move. They sent a huge group of their military, comprising of English and Indian soldiers who had defected their authorities and joined the British, to battle it out with the nawab military, which were assisted by the French military (Higgins & Pollard, 2006). The British conquered and executed the nawab and replaced with a leader of their choice. Due to their influence and good relations with their new leader, the British were given authority to control and collect taxes in Bengal. The seven-year war had started between British and French forces, at the Indian coast. Britain emerged victorious once again and this marked the beginning of the British Empire in India. Over the next few years, the British control over India grew immensely and in 1956, Britain became the official colony.
The textile industry at this time became better developed in Britain as compared to the previous century. This was due to the high taxes imposed on textile importation from India. However, on the international scale, Indian textile was still popular because of two reasons. First, the British experienced technical difficulties in copying dyeing skills of the Indians. Secondly, their prices were relatively high because of the higher wages paid to the workers. For Britain to develop there was need to form export market and in the process, take control of the international market. Meanwhile, there was growing development in the new world. Slavery, where human beings, mainly the poor victims of war, were sold to work in huge agriculture plantations was one of the reasons for development. The slaves provided cheap and sometimes forced labor greatly needed in the plantations (Mokyr, 1985). Mercantilist trade restrictions also aided in development of the new industrial era.
The new world agriculture in Europe was developed because of several reasons. Britain was in great need of outside market in order to export its locally produced textile products in order to make profits, which would then be used to improve and maintain stability of the economy. Slave trade ensured constant supply of cheap labor in the plantations. African slaves were preferred because of two reasons. For one, high rates of deaths were recorded in Europe at around this time causing labor shortages. These deaths could be attributed to have been caused by these wars as well as disease outbreaks. Also, Europeans were not willing to migrate from their former residence to the new world region in order to provide the required labor. The large number of slaves needed upkeep. Luckily, food was not a problem because it could be obtained directly from agriculture. Another basic need was clothing and this made it necessary to see that there was need for importation of cheap cotton from India. Massive importation followed and at the end, cotton was so much that again there was need for the extra cotton to be exported to Africa. West Africa gladly traded with the British in exchange with slaves who could be sold in the Caribbean to work in the cotton plantations (Marks, 2007). The new world products were mainly obtained from the plantations. They included, cotton, tobacco, and sugar, obtained from sugarcane were taken to England.
This three sided trade gave Britain a chance to make lots of profits and in the process imposed laws known as colonial legislation. These rules played a very important role in making the British effect be felt as market controllers. These aided the British in ensuring that the third world remained the main producers of raw materials only. They also made sure that the new world could only consume industrial products of Britain in order to avoid instability again (Mokyr, 1985). They kept out of trade contact with their enemies especially the Dutch and the French, while they continued making profits. The massive labor produced by the slaves in textile industry improved shipping potential of England and massively developed the city of Manchester as the centre of textile manufacture.
Raw cotton was cheaply imported from the British colonies to the factories of Manchester. Massive development followed...
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