ABSTRACT
The late-Victorian economic condition of Britain is a significant focus of attention for historians. In heavy industry, Britain came to rule the world economy, supplying over a third of the worlds ships, exporting massive quantities of coal, and supplying even the worlds traditional textile nations like India with cheap cottons from the mills of Lancashire in England and finer cottons from Lanarkshire and Ayrshire in Scotland. Technologically and imperially, Britain seemed in many respects to rule the world. The Empire covered a third of the land mass of the globe, and, within that, the nation had a free-trade empire, providing a ready market for her products and places for investment. Investors continued to pour millions of pounds into the burgeoning industries and into transport systems notably railways and harbour development of places like North and South America as well as India and Australia.
