ABSTRACT
The growth of British foreign trade in the early Industrial Revolu tion was accompanied by considerable shifts in its geographical scope and commodity composition. British exports were dominated by tex tiles, which accounted for at least two-fifths of all manufactured exports in any given year. In 1750 woollens were the leading export commodity, as they had been for centuries, but their dominance was cut back after 1800 by the rise of cotton manufactured goods. In 1784-86 textiles accounted for 46 per cent of British exports: wool lens contributed 29 per cent, cottons 6 per cent, and other textiles 11
per cent. In 1844-46 textiles made up 69 per cent of exports: cottons now dominated with 44 per cent followed by woollens (14 per cent) and other textiles (11 per cent). On the import side, most goods consisted of raw cotton imports, other raw materials and non-essential food stuffs such as tobacco, coffee, sugar and tea. The single most valuable import commodity until the 1820s was West Indian-produced sugar; thereafter it was overtaken by raw cotton brought in largely from the southern United States [180].
