During the nineteenth century Glasgow was considered by many to be the second city of the great British Empire. The culmination of this was in 1888 when Queen Victoria formally opened Glasgow city chambers in front of mass crowds in George Square. This event symbolized perfectly Glasgow’s progress and development into the illustrious status of the second city of the Empire. This essay shall discuss the most significant reasons that propelled Glasgow into one of the leading economic centres in the world and one of the most important trade routes between the Americas, Europe and the British Empire. The main focus of the essay shall be upon how Glasgow developed into a major port and how this progression resulted in a major trade route being formed. The essay shall also discuss the effect that the global trade revolution and the increasing world investment in transportation had upon Glasgow’s economy and development.
The basis for Scotland, and in particular Glasgow, developing into a major economy was the Anglo-Scottish Union becoming law on May Day 1707 (Devine, 1999,p. ... This free trade allowed Scotland’s economy to develop and this resulted in Glasgow becoming a vitally important trade route between the Americas and Europe. Glasgow was the first port accessible for major ships coming in for the Americas as the Clyde River had been widened and deepened to allow such access. This meant that a lot of British trade coming in from the Americas was landed in Glasgow and then re-distributed throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. ... For example Glasgow had fifteen percent of employment in Scotland’s largest single occupation in 1831, handloom weaving. ...
Glasgow benefited greatly from Scotland’s early industrialization, which lead to the city having a major advantage over its European rivals within the international market. Scotland also had a large and vastly experienced business class with in-depth knowledge of market forces; a political and social elite loyal to economic investment and growth; an experienced labour force which had already developed skills in engineering, mining and textiles and, crucially, were already used to the tough working routines of capitalism; an advanced network of ports, rail-links, canal routes and road connections; and the already established international links with Europe and North America as well as the rest of the Empire.
To link to this page, copy the following code to your site:
All Papers Are For Research And Reference Purposes Only!
You may not turn these papers in as your own! You must cite our web site as your source!
