This advertisement (I've reproduced part of it here) from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1791 shows what goods were being exported from Britain by ships belonging to Greenock merchants. Among the items being offered for sale were:-
Food - refined
sugar, Cheshire cheese, salad oil
Clothing - shoes,
stockings, hats
Fabric - Irish
linen, printed cotton in fashionable patterns, corduroys, woollens, embroidered
serge
Metal goods - nails,
ships anchors, German steel,
Household
essentials - earthenware, frying pans, kettles, window glass, candles
Toiletries - soap,
hair power
Other items
included - tobacco, paint and oil, fishing nets, sail cloth guns, powder and
shot.
It is so interesting to see the sorts of things that were traded then. Obviously it was not just the working essentials that were important to settlers, they also required some home comforts and luxury goods. Many local merchants had branches of their business on both sides of the Atlantic in order to make the most of the trading opportunities available. William Forsyth, who is named in the advertisement, was an important merchant in Nova Scotia with trading partners in Greenock. There will be more about William Forsyth and his family in future posts.
Amazing to read some of the items that were traded. Really interesting.
ReplyDeleteSurprising how much trade went on then, even internationally, going right back to Roman times. Learned recently about the one million plus white Europeans from Britain and the continent captured by pirates during the 17th and 18th century and routinely sold in the slave markets of North Africa, never to see their homes or family again during the same time period. Sailing was a dangerous occupation then if your ship was captured or you were caught on land alone by the Barbary Corsairs who ran a lucrative trade in any white slaves they grabbed from Europe, supported by their own governments to crush the influence of Christianity. Something you don't hear very much about these days as you usually tend to think about black slaves being the only victims from that time period.
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