ABSTRACT
Heaton (1948: 307; see also Davis 1967: 3; Coleman 1977: esp. Chapter 4) sees a dramatic economic transformation of Britain's position in Europe during the period of early capitalism which reached through to the middle of the eighteenth century (Chiapello 2007: 265; Sombart 1902:
Tucked away in the top left-hand corner of the map of Europe, fifteenth century England was an unimportant, unfortunate country … The picture contrasts strongly with that of the mid-eighteenth century. By 1750 the population had almost trebled and was growing quickly. Commercial agriculture covered much of the country, some grain was being exported, but wool was kept at home by law for use in a cloth industry that was now the largest in Europe. The production of metal goods was highly developed, and coal fired a wide range of industries. British merchants, using British ships, were firmly established in most European ports, in the oriental and African trades, and in every kind of traffic with the Americas. Emigration and conquest had created an empire with thirty transatlantic colonies.
