VisualizingTrade:ananalysisoftheBalticSeatradeinthe18thcentury R G

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IJKSUNIVERSITEIT

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HESIS

Visualizing Trade: an analysis of the Baltic

Sea trade in the 18th century

Author:

Gilian BROUWER

Supervisor:

Dr. Anjana SINGH

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RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN

Abstract

Visualizing Trade: an analysis of the Baltic Sea trade in the 18th century

by Gilian BROUWER

The Baltic Sea trade of the 18th century is examined through a digital visualization application.The Sound Toll Registers Online project was used to create a visualiza-tion which forms the foundavisualiza-tion of the examinavisualiza-tion. The visualizavisualiza-tion project was limited to a select number of goods to examine in the 18th century. With the help of the visualization an extensive analysis was made of the Baltic Sea trade which passed through the Sound.From the visualizations it was found that the Baltic Sea trade knew both complex structural patterns and short term events which could in-fluence the Baltic Sea trade dramatically. Structurally it knew three periods: in the early 18th century when trade to and from Amsterdam was dominant, a mid cen-tury development wherein stronger actor become more involved in the trade, and a development in the latter half of the century when Amsterdam lost it dominance against rising trading powers. The patterns of growth could dramatically changed under the influence of short-term events such as famine or war.

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List of Figures

6.1 Export of cacao from Bordeaux 1768-1805 . . . 14

6.2 Trade flows of cacao from London and Bordeaux 1786-1805 . . . 15

6.3 Origins of cacao imports of Stockholm 18th century . . . 16

7.1 Destinations of tea exports from Stockholm 18th century . . . 18

7.2 Destinations of tea exports from Copenhagen, 1732-1772 . . . 19

8.1 Growth of coffee trade in kilograms, 1772-1805 . . . 23

8.2 Non-European trade of coffee, 1772-1805 . . . 24

9.1 Sugar trade, 1700-1805 . . . 25

9.2 Sugar trade from Hamburg, 1725-1778.. . . 27

9.3 Divergence in the trade of sugar, 1700-1805. . . 28

9.4 Export of Sugar from France and Great Britain, 1780-1805 . . . 29

10.1 Destinations of the export of pepper from Amsterdam, 1700-1710 . . . 32

10.2 Export of Pepper from London, 1750-1805 . . . 33

11.1 Origins of Barley trade flows to Amsterdam and Bergen, 1721-1745 . . 36

11.2 Expansion of trade flows to Norwegian cities, 1747-1766 . . . 37

11.3 Comparison volume of trade from Danzig, 1741-1766 . . . 38

11.4 Comparison changes in volume of trade between the Dutch Republic, England and Scotland, 1766-1805 . . . 40

12.1 Finish trade crossing the Sound, 1700-1805 . . . 42

12.2 Volume of rye trade transported to Amsterdam, 1720-1740 . . . 43

12.3 Correlation Rye Price-Volume of Trade for Amsterdam, 1700-1805 . . . 44

12.4 Correlation Rye Price-Volume of Trade for Schiedam, 1750-1805 . . . . 45

13.1 Total amount of wheat passing through the Sound in the 18th Century 50 13.2 Wheat export from Danzig, 1700-1805 . . . 51

13.3 Correlation Wheat Price-Volume of Trade for London, 1700-1805. . . . 52

13.4 Correlation Wheat Price-Volume of Trade for Amsterdam, 1700-1805 . 53 14.1 Total amount of wheat passing through the Sound in the 18th Century 56 14.2 The origins of the trade in oats for Amsterdam and Edinburgh, 1700-1805 . . . 57

14.3 Correlation Oats Price-Volume of Trade for England 1767-1805 . . . 59

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List of Tables

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1

Chapter 1

Introduction

If one were to mention trade of the 18th century it will invoke images of the triangle trade, of long distance voyages in search for spices and tea across in lands far away from European shores. Yet these voyages were uncertain and could not provide merchants with steady profits they so desired. According to Tielhof (2002, pp. 2-3) it was not these long distance trade routes but the Baltic Sea trade which provided important opportunities for merchants to make considerable profits. Tielhof notes that the trade for the East and West Indies was dependent on the existence of the Baltic trade.

The Baltic Sea trade is considered an important rich and vibrant trade throughout the Early Modern Age. Most of the Baltic trade was forced to pass through a small strait, the Sound, between Denmark and Sweden. The Danish capitalized on the increasing passage of ships by levying a toll on each ship which passed through the Sound. For each ship paying toll the Danish kept precise records on their direction, origins, cargo, captain name and tolls payed. These records of the Danish Sound Toll still exist in the form of the Sound Toll Registers an impressive volume which has recently been digitized and made publicly available online. The was made possible through the Sound Toll Registers Online (STRO) project which digitized the register and can be found onhttp://www.soundtoll.nl/.

The records of the STRO can be overwhelming. According to Scheltjens and Veluwenkamp (2012, pp. 1-3) the Sound Toll Registers contain information of 1.8 million passages. Although an impressively detailed account of the trade passing through the Sound its large volume and rich details make it difficult to grasp. The records from the archives were digitized to gain some measure of control on the information provided by the Sound Toll Registers. The digitization of the Sound Toll Registers would allow for an examination of patterns in the entirety of the Baltic Sea trade which passed through the Sound, providing a detailed image of the structural developments within one of the most important systems of maritime trade in the Early Modern Age.

How did the Baltic Sea trade, passing through the Sound, develop the volumes, (geographical) directions and how did it affect the prices of consumer goods in the 18th century? To answer the research question several subquestions were made to examine the Baltic trade in the 18th century. How did trade in grains and goods from colonial regions develop over time in volume, geographical destination and origin? Are there distinctions in the development of trade patterns between various trade goods? Are there commonalities in these developments? And how can the creation of a visual application help analyze the Baltic Sea trade?

The creation of visualizations would be the foundation of answering the research questions and allow for the illustrating of the trade between East and West Europe across the Baltic Sea. Although the digitization of the Sound Toll Registers provided much needed access to the registers, the database size make it difficult to fully grasp

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2 Chapter 1. Introduction the movements within the Baltic Sea trade. The aim of this study is thus to answer the research question by utilizing new visualization technology which have not yet been applied in the research subject. Utilizing visualizations would allow for a dis-tant reading (Kirschenbaum, 2007) of the data provided by the Sound Toll Registers Online.

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Chapter 2

Historiography

There has been a considerable amount of research done in regards to the Baltic Sea trade. Yet most of the works have always taken a focus on the Baltic Sea trade in relation to a specific country or commodity. Israel (2002, pp. 213-216) questions the primacy of the Baltic Sea trade, doubting it had much influence on the Dutch economy. Israel (1991) questions the dominant image of the Baltic Sea trade as the ‘mother of all trade’ which Dutch historians such as Van Zanden staunchly defend. According to Israel there lies a critical difference in approach between the Dutch his-torians such as Van Zanden and Israel. Dutch Hishis-torians rely on statistics aggregated from sources to explain trends (Israel, 1991). Israel approaches the matter through a more traditional way of writing history through a close reading of sources. Both sides however approach the Baltic trade from a Dutch perspective, utilizing primar-ily Dutch sources to show the Dutch share in the Baltic trade, marginalizing how the Baltic trade shifted and developed as a whole. Additionally, a visual approach to examining the Baltic trade will view the Dutch share in the Baltic trade from a different perspective, adding to the discussing by contextualizing Dutch trade as a share of all the Baltic trade.

The challenge by Israel has led to a revision of the Dutch participation in the Baltic Sea trade. According to Omrod (2003) the Dutch, while dominant in the 17th century, lost a considerable share of the trade to the English and the French.In the 18th century European countries struggled for dominance of the Baltic Sea trade, yet none managed to succeed. Omrod links the decline of the Dutch and rise of the English trade to each other. As a result of war and commercial rivalry the English gradually grew in dominance while the Dutch steadily declined. Omrod marks 1740 as the decisive year from which the Dutch trade could not return from. Van Tielhof (1989, p. 94) demonstrates that the Baltic trade was quite impressive, utilizing Sound Toll Registers, she demonstrated that there went considerable amount of grain from the Baltic to the Low Countries. She demonstrates how grain exports shifted over the course of several centuries. The narrative told by Van Tielhof is compelling and demonstrates that for grain in particular there were great waves in which grain was exported over the course of the 18th century. Yet Van Tielhof doesn’t delve into specific trends that developed. With few exceptions, Van Tielhof only creates a global sketch of the development of the grain and primarily focuses on the Dutch city of Amsterdam as a main actor. Interactive visualizations can highlight those various differences that exist within the grain trade and display various trends that exist within the Baltic grain trade, highlighting the various dynamics that may exist but were not further explored by Van Tielhof (1989).

Until the early 2000’s however the trade records received little attention from historians (van der Vliet, 2015). Trade records were considered to be unreliable by the Annales School as they preferred to examine grain prices. Trade records were

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4 Chapter 2. Historiography also quite complex and required certain technological advances, such as the digiti-zation of the Sound Toll Registers, to examine (van der Vliet, 2015). Scheltjens (2004) utilized the digital form of the Sound Toll registers to demonstrate the decline in trade share of the Dutch in the Baltic Sea trade in the 18th century. While the volume of grain increased in the 18th century, the Dutch lost market share to other Euro-pean countries. Again a similar pattern in the literature occurs: the Baltic trade is examined through the perspective of the Dutch, yet misses a comprehensive view of the dynamics of the Baltic Sea trade. Such a concentration on the Dutch is not solely based on the reputation of the Dutch Republic as a large trading nation. More importantly, the Dutch held very specific records on their seafaring vessels, with ob-jects such as the muster rolls or levy (paalgelden) being used for the aggregation of trade statistics (van der Vliet, 2015). The creation of a visual tool which illustrates the Baltic trade as a whole instead of through national actors can help historians by contextualizing the trade flows and display how trade flows changed over time.

Moreire et al. (2015) demonstrate that the Baltic Sea trade was not exclusively Dutch or English, and they show how trade between smaller nations such as Portu-gal and Sweden can be overlooked if the Baltic Sea trade is examined through the Dutch perspective, despite its interesting dynamics. Sweden almost exclusively im-ported salt from Portugal and was quite depended on the smaller trade nation for its supply in salt. The trading ties between these nations were strong and not af-fected by diplomatic changes on either side of the Sound (Moreire et al., 2015).The Baltic Sea trade may hold more interesting dynamics, such as between Portugal and Sweden, which have not been visible before.

While the Baltic Sea trade is known for its grain trade from the Baltic, the Sound Toll registers show a two way street. According to Draper and Veluwenkamp (2016) commodities from colonial regions such as coffee and sugar also passed through the Sound with each product carefully recorded. Again a pattern emerges whereby the Dutch are gradually replaced as other colonial forces such as the English and the French take a dominant market share (Draper and Veluwenkamp, 2016). Simi-larly dynamics were found by Attman (1981) in examining Archangel and the Rus-sian share in the Baltic Sea trade. Not only were large amount of good exported to Western-Europe (primarily the English), commodities, particularly commodities from colonial regions, were imported such as tobacco, coffee, tea and spices. At the same time Archangel suffered from colonial competition of Canadian fur. Exam-ining the Baltic Sea trade through an interactive visual medium would allow the examination of similar dynamics within the Baltic Sea trade.

It is interesting to see how prices change with increasing trade volumes but de-creasing market share. Prices most directly affect the lives of the citizens and show how trade might influence their lives. O’Rourke and Williamson (2005) mention that this is not an easy task. Increased trade can indicate market integration or a passive response to population growth. Developing technology in transport can also offset price increase due to trade fluctuations. A high level of market integration can have unforeseen consequences. Should, for example, harvest fail in the Baltic than this can have a direct consequences for Western-Europe. High prices can cause social unrest including urban migration and riots, which in turn can spread diseases (Post, 1990). Because of these aspects, it is of interest to not only examine the Baltic Sea trade solely on its own, but also how the Baltic Sea trade affected the lives of people through consumer prices.

The Baltic Sea trade has often been explored through the perspective of a national actor, such as the Low Countries, England or Russia, or some regional variant such as Amsterdam or Archangel. Yet the Baltic Sea trade has seldom been examined on

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Chapter 2. Historiography 5 its own merits. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Baltic Sea trade through a comprehensive statistical analysis with the use of the Sound Toll registers. As mentioned earlier, trade records are quite complex and the Sound Toll registers are no exception. An appropriate way to view the trade flows of the Baltic Sea is through the use of a digital visualization.

The creation of a visual application to analyze the Sound Toll has several ad-vantages. The database can be quite complex and has in the past been put aside. Visualizations would make it easier to access such complex datasets and help im-prove understanding the data within the datasets. The visual application could then in essence help in answering questions regarding how certain trade participants may be linked to each other which we could not see before. Did the decline of the Dutch trade allow French traders more access to the market? It would also allow to look at how Baltic Sea trade developed over time, what the points of gravity are and how they shift over the course of time. Do the gravity points of different commodities differ, and if so how? It would also allow historians to instantly see the develop-ment of certain commodities over time. In the long term such a tool could even be expanded upon to incorporate various other dataset, such as shipping data from the VOC or WIC. This would result in the creation of a visualization of global trade over a century. A tool for historians to consult regarding the development of trade.

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7

Chapter 3

Sources

The main source used will be the online Sound Toll registers. According to Gøbel (2010), the Sound Toll registers have proven to be a valuable resource on Baltic Sea trade. Ships that came from the North Sea to the Baltic, and vice versa, had to pass the Sound. From 1497 until 1857 a toll was levied on each ship passing the Sound. Few ships managed to get past the Sound without paying the toll. Each payment had been carefully registered along with cargo types, ports of destination, home ports and so on. From the year 1669 the Sound Toll registers had gained a standard-ized method of registration. Every cargo type on the ships were listed in a separate passage in the register thus giving a fairly accurate record of the Baltic Sea trade throughout the early Modern Age.

The Sound Toll Registers have been made visible to historians with their recent digitization. In a comparison between Swedish, Portuguese records and the Sound Toll Registers, Moreira et al. found that the Sound Toll Registers were highly accu-rate.

Whilst an incredibly valuable resource, there are some complications with the Sound Toll Registers that complicate its examination. Cargo can have various forms of spelling and volume notations. For example rye can be described as rug, ruug, ruüge or some variation. Additionally the trade goods could come in a variety of measurements. Gallagher (2016) examine the trade of timber directed towards Spain and found that timber could vary heavily in size and shape. Timber could take the form of a plank or the form of a balk or mast yet the measurements of these product were often not listen. This makes estimating volumes of timber quite complicated. Timber is a more complex type of product due to its use in construction, consumer goods such as rye know more standardized forms.

In addition price lists can be borrowed from various scholarly resources such as the IISG.nl website that provides various price lists on consumer commodities throughout the centuries. The price lists were used by historians for their own re-search and have known been published online to be used for further rere-search. The data published on the IISG website falls under the creative commons license and can be used freely for research purposes. The price lists show that the amount of silver in the coins used did not stabilize until 1700, which before could change consider-ably. One such pricelist has been made by Van Zanden (2017) for the Amsterdam consumption and wages. They provide a highly detailed price list for consumer goods. The application of price lists was not possible for each of the trade goods, where applicable the price lists are mentioned within the chapter of the examined commodity.

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Chapter 4

Methodology

The Sound Toll Registers provide a rich amount of material yet working with the Sound Toll Registers can be cumbersome. Much of the literature regarding the Baltic Sea trade thus focuses on a single subject. Visualizations may assist in gaining a clearer understanding of the Baltic Sea trade structure and its influences. It would thus allow for the exploration of the Baltic Sea trade in new ways (Hinrichs et al, 2015). Digital visualizations are not merely illustration for the support of text, for purpose of this research it form the primary methodology to examine the Sound Toll Registers. Digital visualizations can be a powerful tool it can accurately illustrate the space (the Baltic Sea) and in this space visualize quantitative data (Sound Toll Registers) and its interactive component can create time demonstrating how events developed. Digital visualization can thus become a powerful research tool (Jessop, 2008). The intention is thus to not only create digital visualization which serves this research, but a digital visualization that can be accessible for anyone interested in the Sound Toll Registers.

According to Drucker (2011) developing a digital tool is more methodologically sound than borrowing such a tool from a different discipline. By developing the tool it allows full control over the shape and the entry of data, thus allowing the data and the research question to shape the tool itself. Application of already existing tools would force the data to fit tool, potentially losing valuable manipulations of the data (Drucker, 2011). It is therefore of importance that the tool is developed for the data and the research question.

For the creation of the visualization the data was extracted from the online Sound Toll Registers. Data was selected on year and key product words, for the intent of this research as well as limiting the scope of the research only a selected amount of consumer goods were selected focusing on grains and certain colonial goods. The products were cacao coffee, tea, sugar, pepper, barley, rye wheat and oats. Data of the Sound Toll Registers Online was constructed into three datasets with a key on passage id. For the visualization it was needed to join all three datasets into a singular dataset. This resulted in a singular database with 374,930 passage listings, ships containing multiple goods had multiple passage listings (one for each product transported).

Spelling for cities could often very greatly, the city Amsterdam could be written as “Amsterdam” but also as “Amst” or “Ams”. With these many variations of a single location, they all needed to be standardized. A similar issue occurred with the measurements of goods. However measurements provided an additional problem; the intent was to convert all of the measurements in kilograms, but the measurement in which goods were recorded could often heavily vary depending on the city of origin, the type good and the general vagueness of the measurement. Gallon, for example, had various different measurement at the time, because the Scottish and English Gallon maybe similar initial focus was set on the Scottish gallon due to its

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10 Chapter 4. Methodology high frequency of listings in the Sound Toll Registers (Connor, Simpson & Morrison-Low, 2004). Because measurement could vary an approach was taken similarly to Scheltjens (2015) on French imports to the Baltics. Instead of using one standard to express the volume of trade, the volume of trade was expressed in both a minimum and a maximum value, with both values being expressed in kilograms. A part of the measurements conversions was borrowed from Scheltjens examination of the French imports to the Baltics. Measurements that were unknown were set to zero so that would still be displayed but held no weight.

The data from the resulting data table was grouped by destination, origins and year to create a dataset which contained 31,490 rows. Each row represent the sum of the volume of trade being transported from one location to another in a single year. That volume could often vary greatly: it being sometimes only a few hundred kilogram or several millions.

A combination of python and JavaScript languages was used to create an inter-active visualization from the formed dataset. The python module Bokeh allowed for the usage of python which it then converted into a JavaScript. This allowed for great flexibility in handling the database to express it as a visualization. The code of the application created with the modules is shown in the appendix.

With the new data visualization can be made that show the Baltic Sea trade as registered in the Sound Toll Registers. Some interactivity was implemented to demonstrate the development of trade over time. There is a slider to change the range of years which will in turn change the visualization. Trade is mapped out by good, displaying the streams of trade from ports of origin to ports of destination. Each port is made selectable. When a port is selected the information of the trade flows from or to the port is made visible in an additional table. In doing so the vi-sualization allowed for the creation of additional datasets to be compared with and used.

The visualization application formed the foundation of further analysis of the Baltic Sea trade. Additional statistical measurements such as cross correlations and percentile divisions of the trade were made based on the interpretations of the vi-sual application. Based on the movements of trade as shown on the vivi-sual applica-tion interpretaapplica-tions were made as shown in the chapters which include addiapplica-tional illustrations from which the interpretations could be concluded from.

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Chapter 5

Creation of an Appplication

The immediate visualization can be found on the website:

https://calm-falls-25334.herokuapp.com/myapp

Trade could often fluctuate heavily from year to year. For example, trade from Danzig to London could be present every year in a 20 year period except for 4 spe-cific years. To ensure that both the structural (frequently occurring) trade over the entire 20 years could be examine and each individual year separately, both a range slider and a single year slider were introduced. The range slider is also flexible and can be set to any range of years to see if certain cyclical or structural patterns occur.

Visualizing trade for certain product such as wheat or rye could be very com-plex. Initial results showed a considerable amount of data to be displayed. So much so that it could negatively influence the analysis of the trade network. The trade network would be methodologically filtered based on the product to compensate for the density of the trade network. To examine rye trade it was necessary to create three visualizations, one for all trade below the mean of 500,000, one for above the mean of 500,000 and one that displayed all trade but within a limited timeframe (less than 25 years). For rye this was a necessary approach to fully examine the rye trade.

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Chapter 6

The Rise and Fall of the Cacao

Trade

The usage of cacao has a long history. Originally it was used in Mesoamerican civ-ilizations as some form of beverage. The first contact Europe had with the cacao beans was in the 16th century where, according to Lippi (2013), the cacao beans were dubbed ‘brown gold’. In the 17th and 18th century the European physicians recommended the usage of cacao as a beverage to cure illnesses. The cures attributed to chocolate were considerable. It would cure the hemorrhoids, the stomach, virility, increase lifespan and so on. Enthusiasm spread to the public and with it a desire to purchase the ‘brown gold’ which led to an active trade in cacao.

According to Jamieson (2001, pp. 271-275) New Spain produced a large share of the cacao, yet most of this production was put under heavy control of the Spanish crown. These trade restrictions did not end until the late eighteenth century. At the end of the seventeenth century however cacao was spread across the French territo-ries in the Caribbean. Dand (1997, pp. 5-8) mentions that the French production of cacao in the Caribbean was nearly wiped out due to some mysterious ‘blast’ in 1727. It is not clear what was meant by it but according to Dand (1997, pp. 5-8) the ‘blast’ could’ve been a series of hurricanes, droughts or fungal infestation. The cacao plants commonly preferred by the plantation owners were particularly susceptible to any of these causes. The cacao plantations restarted thirty years later however and trade resumed.

For the cacao trade in the eighteenth century initial trade came from Amsterdam and went to Danzig (now called Gdansk) in 1718 and from Danzig to Rouen in 1714. However most of that particular trade did not last. Both were a single recorded passage in the registers. Little is known about the particular passages. The cacao transported in 1718 was part of a larger group of cargo which consisted out of many other items, including pepper, cinnamon and tobacco. Before 1753 only these two passages were mentioned the transporting of cacao. Cacao trade which had a last-ing connection with the Baltics did not occur until the second half of the eighteenth century. From the year 1754 Bordeaux began exporting cacao to the Baltics. How-ever, the export of cacao did not last long. When in 1756 the Seven Years’ War broke out the cacao trade fell silent once again. Five years after the end of the Seven Years’ War the cacao export to the Baltic started again. This time trade from Bordeaux re-mained relatively consistent. The bulk of this trade went to Copenhagen and Stettin (Szczecin). Stettin in particular was a frequent destination. 42 shipments contain-ing cacao went towards Stettin, accountcontain-ing for a total amount of 19,705 kg of cacao being delivered there in the period 1768-1805. Copenhagen was a distant second, importing 11,785kg of cacao over 28 passages. Together they formed the primary destinations for the bulk of the cacao trade which was exported to the Baltics from Bordeaux.

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14 Chapter 6. The Rise and Fall of the Cacao Trade Although Copenhagen and Stettin were the primary destinations for the cacao trade from Bordeaux the volume of trade peaked at different moments for each of the importing cities. Figure 1 shows the export of cacao from Bordeaux. In figure 6.1cacao trade towards Stettin enjoyed a large double peak in the period 1784-1786. In 1788 however all cacao trade from Bordeaux dropped. Though it’s not clear what happened, cacao import from Bordeaux to Stettin ceased to reach the previous vol-umes of trade. Copenhagen on the other hand peaked after 1788, though it quickly declined in 1793.

FIGURE6.1: Export of cacao from Bordeaux 1768-1805. (Years with no mention of trade were not included).

While Bordeaux was an important origin point for the cacao trade, two other cities, London and Liverpool also provided a consistent amount of cacao to their respective destinations. Cacao export from London began in 1773, with relatively minor shipments of less than 1000 kg. As with Bordeaux, Stettin remained a popu-lar destination for the cacao trade originating from London. This consistent demand

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Chapter 6. The Rise and Fall of the Cacao Trade 15 for cacao is the likely result of the emerging chocolate factories. These factories orig-inated in Germany from Lippe and spread to various German towns including Stet-tin. Although a ship containing cacao left the port of London frequently its destina-tion was not always Stettin. The destinadestina-tion of the cacao shipment could vary. One year a shipment of cacao would go to Stettin, the other year it would go to Stockholm or Copenhagen. After 1792 cacao shipments from London ceased and appeared to have been replaced by Liverpool. A few years after the trade from London ceased, Liverpool began exporting cacao to much of the same destinations as the trade from London in the previous years. One notable exception is Copenhagen, where trade did not shift from London to Liverpool.

Both the Bordeaux and London cacao trade was notable. On the map in6.2 in the result for the visualization of the trade originating from both London and Bor-deaux is shown. The map shows that neither port had a particular destination, in-stead trade flowed towards various cities in the Baltic. Most of the trade destinations overlapped: Stettin, Danzig, Copenhagen and Stockholm were frequent destinations for both cities. The three German cities of Danzig, Stettin and Konigsberg enjoyed frequent visits from both London and Bordeaux. Though the three cities did oc-casionally receive cacao from other origins, such as Nantes or Amsterdam, these shipments were often incidental, a single shipment recorded in the Sound Toll Reg-isters. The primary origins the cacao trade for Danzig, Stettin and Konigsberg was still Bordeaux and, to a lesser extent, London.

FIGURE6.2: Trade flows from London and Bordeaux 1786-1805 (In

red origins, in blue destinations).

Cacao trade heading for Copenhagen and Saint Petersburg was quite different in character than the previously mentioned three cities. While Bordeaux was, in abso-lute quantitative numbers, the main supplier of cacao to Copenhagen, Copenhagen obtained cacao periodically from various different sources. Copenhagen obtained cacao from various other places, primarily Marseilles. The trade flow towards Saint Petersburg was less dominated by Bordeaux as most of the trade flowed from Lis-bon.

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16 Chapter 6. The Rise and Fall of the Cacao Trade The map in 6.3 shows all ports of origin of the cacao trade heading towards Stockholm. Cacao trade heading for Stockholm was more diverse than a simple di-rect Bordeaux or London connection. Bordeaux did not have a dominating position within the cacao trade flow towards Stockholm. Cacao trade towards Stockholm usually consisted of a single shipment or two shipments of cacao per year. The high-est being a single shipment of cacao had an high-estimated size of between 1600 kg and 2000 kg and originated from Lisbon. It also included shipments of cacao from its own colony of Saint Barthélemy. Trade of cacao towards Stockholm ceased after 1796 and did not return within the 18th century.

FIGURE6.3: Origins of cacao imports of Stockholm 18th century. (In red origins, in blue destinations).

Overall the cacao trade gradually changed. From the 1770’s the cacao trade grad-ually intensified. Bordeaux rose to a dominant position, with London being a close second. Yet after 1796 there’s a radical change in this intensification. All trade from Bordeaux ceased, no longer having the previous dominant position. Marzagalli (2005) mentions that commodities from colonial regions were particularly affected by war. French colonies in the Caribbean which produced cacao were either occu-pied by Great Britain or the plantations were destroyed and the commodities from colonial regions were seized (Marzagalli, 2005). For the German towns it was this moment where trade flows shifted, originating not from Bordeaux but from Liver-pool. The impact of the French Revolutionary Wars was felt in the cacao trade as it changed trade flows and caused a rapid decline in trade volumes at the end of the eighteenth century.

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Chapter 7

Tea from the Baltic Sea

Tea was first introduced to Europe by Dutch and Portuguese traders in the 17th cen-tury. According to Braudel (1992, pp. 250-252) tea wasn’t a product of which it was easy to acquire a taste for. Another route from which could come from was Russia, which imported its own tea from Asia, though it nowhere near met the demand of the Europeans at the end of the 18th century. Tea was difficult product to ship from Asia, especially in 17th and early 18th century. Tea leaves withered during travel, and it was customary to drink tea from porcelain. According to Braudel trade in tea did not develop until the 1720’s when direct trade between Europe and China came to be. Though Braudel notes that it wasn’t the entirety of Europe which enjoyed the drinking of tea. Tea became popular in England, Russia and the Dutch Republic, but didn’t caught on in Spain or France (Braudel, 1992).

The visualizing of the trade in tea resulted in particularly difficult visualizations. In part this was due to the types of measurements used in the Sound Toll Registers. A common measurement for tea was the use of chests, however it’s not clear what proportions a chest had and how these chests could vary depending on their ori-gins. These measurements were often unknown leading to trade flows where the volume of trade could not be established. The trade in tea could also heavily vary: the minimum amount of tea which was transported was about half a kilogram with a maximum which was transported being nearly 400,000 kilograms. Nevertheless the visualizations of the trade in tea show a variety of notable aspects of the trade and shifts within the trade.

Did the trade in tea follow similar patterns to the ones described by Braudel? Vi-sualizations of the early 18th century certainly appear to agree with his description. Only very minute amounts of tea was traded in the period between 1700 and 1727. For the majority of these years almost no tea was traded from or to the Baltic Sea area. From 1727 the trade in tea expanded. Amsterdam developed to become a cen-ter from which the tea trade flowed towards the Baltics. Its locations were varied, spreading across various cities such as Stockholm, Riga, and Danzig. The data is not particularly clear on the size of the trade in kilograms. However the data shows that it was often only one or two voyages per year to each port. It would mark the year 1727 as the moment in which the trade in tea flowed consistently towards the Baltics.

From the 1733 until 1742 a curious flow of tea trade developed. The trade in tea was expected to come from Western Europe to the Baltics, but during the period 1733-1742 the trade in tea came from Stockholm. The results of the visualization are shown on the map in7.1. Though Copenhagen and Amsterdam were destinations, the most common destination were the ports of Britain, primarily England. Many ports within Britain received an occasional shipment of tea from Stockholm. Partic-ularly Bristol and London received frequent voyages of tea. While some cities only

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18 Chapter 7. Tea from the Baltic Sea received a single voyage each year, London received up to 7 voyages per year, most notably in 1736 and 1738.

FIGURE7.1: Destinations of tea exports from Stockholm 18th century. (In red origins, in blue destinations).

The trade of tea from Stockholm to Britain is the likely result of the successes of the Swedish East India Company (SEIC). The transport of tea from Stockholm to Britain is consistent with the cargo arriving from China being publicly sold for the first time in 1733. The tea which flowed to Britain from Stockholm was most likely smuggled into Britain from Sweden. According to Hodacs and Müller (2015) the tea from Sweden was popular in the English and Scottish market, not in the least because a high tax was levied on the English tea. It is interesting to note that the tea trade was recorded in the Sound Toll Registers even though the tea was intended to be smuggled in from Sweden. It show that there was little escape from the Sound Toll, even if the goods were being smuggled.

In 1745 the trade from Stockholm to Britain rapidly declined. This was likely due to British response to the rampant smuggling. According to Nierstrasz (2015), the smuggling became so rampant that the British government was forced to dramati-cally cut down on the tea tax. The increase in the demand which followed the sharp decrease the cost of tea was not fulfilled by the SEIC but by the East India Company (EIC) and the Dutch traders who were subcontracted by the EIC (Nierstrasz, 2015).

The SEIC re-exported its tea primarily from Gothenburg (Nierstrasz, 2015), again this is reflected in the visualizations of the Sound Toll Registers. The trade from Gothenburg spanned a large variety of cities. Over the course of the second half of the 18th century tea was shipped at an irregular pace. For example Landskrona received two shipments (1754, 1773) of tea from Gothenburg while Danzig received regular shipments of tea nearly every two or three years. It nonetheless shows that the SEIC had a far reach within the Baltic trade, supplying many cities with tea at least once. The only notable exception within the trade from Gothenburg was Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg was notably absent within the trade flows of tea from Gothenburg.

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Chapter 7. Tea from the Baltic Sea 19 Earlier in the chapter it was mentioned that tea may have also come from the east through Russia (Braudel, 1992). This is also show within the visualizations. From 1734 until 1782 the occasional shipment of tea left the port of Saint Petersburg and headed towards West Europe. These shipments were highly irregular and didn’t ship to any particular city. The two cities to which the tea flowed most often to were Amsterdam, followed by Lisbon, Greenock and Havre de Grace. Though irregular, they show that sufficient amount of tea came from Russia to be exported from Russia through Saint Petersburg.

Swedish and Russian trade in tea were not the only tea trades originating from the Baltics. The tea arriving in Copenhagen from the Danish Asiatic Company (DAC) was another notable form of trade in tea which became apparent in the vi-sualization. Like the SEIC the DAC imported tea from China. In Denmark it was then auctioned off to the highest bidder. According to Glamann (1960), the majority of this trade was sold to large buyers which bought the tea in bulk. The tea was then exported by merchants in Copenhagen. Generally goods were exported within nine months of the sale to avoid additional taxes. From 1732 until 1805 frequent shipments of tea left Copenhagen towards a variety of ports in West Europe. The various destinations of the tea trade originating from Copenhagen is shown on the map in 7.2 .Some of the tea trade went as far as the Canary Islands and Lisbon. Most of the tea trade did not go far. The ports to which the most frequent amount of passages were made were Halden (29), Bergen (24) and Oslo (17). The majority of voyages went to Norway, though the trade wasn’t particularly centered on a single port.

FIGURE7.2: Destinations of tea exports from Copenhagen, 1732-1772. (In red origins, in blue destinations).

Outside of Norway Amsterdam was a frequent destination for the tea trade. Much of which was, according to Glamann (1960), due to the encouragement of the DAC to gather interest for its Chinese imports. Though frequently traveled, Ams-terdam did not enjoy the largest share of the recorded export. Estimates show that Dunkirk received 152,176 to 196,096 kilograms of tea over the period 1732-1805.

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20 Chapter 7. Tea from the Baltic Sea It should be noted however that the records are very incomplete, with many miss-ing weight estimates. Nonetheless the trade of the DAC was spread far beyond the Norway trade. The Sound Toll Registers did not hold records of Danish tea imports being exported to German cities. Yet Glamann (1960) assumes based on records from the DAC that most of the trade did go to the German cities not recorded in the Sound Toll Registers. On the Danish tea trade, the Sound Toll Records only tell half the story.

From West Europe to the Baltic Sea area the tea trade outside of the Dutch Re-public was minute. With the exception of two voyages in 1753 and 1754, most of the non-Amsterdam trade occurred in the 1730’s. Most of this tea trade originated from France, particularly from Le Croisic. Yet its amount of voyages remained small. Over the course of the 1730’s only twelve voyages originated from ports from West Europe (excluding Amsterdam), half of which came from Le Croisic. Great Britain was even nearly entirely absent from export of tea to the Baltics. Visualization of the records of the trade in tea show a complex form trade. There was no clear East to West or West to East flow but instead shows a more multifaceted trade which highly depended on the context of the trade. Most of the trade shown came from the Danish Asiatic Company and the Swedish East India Company, yet they were not the sole two actors within the trade. Most of their wares were auctioned off from where it split to a variety of cities, which at times included British cities and Amsterdam. The trade in tea however show a weakness within the Sound Toll Registers. Trade from Gothenburg or Copenhagen would only be shown if it passed through the Sound, yet the trade in tea also flowed elsewhere which was not recorded in the tea trade, such as the trade from Copenhagen to German cities. This has left an incomplete image of the trade in tea, only ever telling half the story. This is particularly no-ticeable in the visualization of the Copenhagen trade, which only showed the trade flowing towards the West. It nonetheless showed a complex variety of trade flows which showed the spread of Russian, Danish, Swedish and Dutch tea well beyond their local markets.

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21

Chapter 8

The European Coffee Trade

According to Braudel (1992, pp. 256-260) Europe was introduced to coffee in the early 17th century. The drink gradually spread across Europe in the 17th century, though it remained primarily a fashionable product for the wealthy. Much of this was due to the limited production of the coffee plants, relying instead on imported coffee from the Arabian Peninsula. From the start of the 18th century this changed as the European nations began organizing their own coffee production in the New World. Production of coffee by European nations meant that the price of coffee re-mained relatively low allowing to be a drink which could be consumed by all classes. A development which occurred in the 18th century as the drinking of coffee grew in popularity (Braudel, 1992).

The coffee trade is also seen in visualizations of the Sound Toll Registers. The coffee trade records have similar problems as did the tea records. Coffee trade in the early 18th century were frequently mentioned in an unknown format which vi-sualizes the immediate connection between two ports but did not show a complete visual of coffee trade as weight is a crucially missing factor. From roughly 1770 the coffee trade is listed in measurable weights. To account for the missing weight mea-surements the trade in coffee was approached in a similar manner as the tea trade in the previous chapter. Coffee from the later periods could be examined through the volume of the trade.

In the first few decades of the 18th century trade in coffee was non-existent. Only two occasions, in 1709 and 1729, did the coffee trade pass through the sound. The trade in coffee did not really start until the 1730’s. This would be in line with the coffee production by European nations. According to Braudel (1992) the coffee plan-tations started in the early 1730’s, but needed time to grow and spread. Prices (and the quality) of the European coffee were generally lower than the Arabian variant. The import of Arabian coffee would’ve been too limited to cater for the larger Euro-pean audience.

From the 1730’s however the coffee trade began to become quite active. From 1732 until 1750 frequent voyages left Amsterdam to a number of cities across the Baltics. They would usually consist of a single voyage in a particular year during the entirety of the period, which resulted in a total of 10 voyages. During the same period coffee was also starting to be exported to the Baltics from London. Coffee from London went to the towns of Danzig and Kolberg. Trade from London was even less frequent than the trade from Amsterdam, but it was more focused. Though coffee trade was still infrequent, it marked the beginning of an active trade.

From 1750 until 1772 trade began to expand as the frequency of voyages in-creased. From Amsterdam the coffee trade began to expand to reach out to more cities within the Baltics. Cities more actively involved in other trade such as Danzig or Stettin were more received more frequent voyages from Amsterdam containing coffee. The trade wasn’t limited to a single voyage per year either. Danzig and

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22 Chapter 8. The European Coffee Trade Stettin frequently received multiple shipments of coffee. In 1752 Danzig received a maximum of 7 shipments. Smaller cities such as Turku only received coffee from Amsterdam once or twice during the period. With an unknown measurement it is unclear to what extent the frequency of shipments coincide with the volume of cof-fee. It’s not outside the realm of possibilities that a smaller volume of coffee was spread over a larger frequency of voyages.

Like the trade from Amsterdam, the coffee trade from London also expanded. As in the previous period trade in coffee from London was less frequent than the trade from Amsterdam, and more focused on the cities Stettin and Danzig. Ships exporting coffee from London which did not go to Stettin or Danzig never arrived more than once to another city during the period. That the trade from London was primarily directed towards Danzig and Stetting was to be expected. According to Smith (1996) the coffee which arrived to England from its colonies were intended to be exported to the German markets. This made tea differ from coffee as tea was intended for the British internal market and coffee clearly meant for the export. In addition occupying the Caribbean colonies of the French during the Seven Years’ War may have additionally boosted the export of the coffee. This all lead to a growth of the export from London in the period 1750-1772.

Newcomer during this period was Bordeaux. From 1751 Bordeaux began export-ing coffee towards the Baltics. The pattern was similar to the London export: Stettin and Danzig received the majority of shipment of coffee yet trade also flowed to other cities such as Turku or Saint Petersburg. The focus of the trade at the time remained the German market. This particular trade flow was so strong that when a shipment of coffee went to a city other than Stettin or Danzig, a shipment of coffee would also always go to Danzig or Stettin in the exact same year.

From 1772 until 1805 much of the coffee trade shifted towards utilizing measure-ment which could be found and converted into kilograms giving a clearer estima-tion of the evoluestima-tion the coffee trade passing through the Sound. The coffee trade is shown in figure 8.1. From here it can be seen that the coffee trade grew with period-ical peaks at certain moments, with little variance between maximum and minimum estimates of the volume in kilograms. This would be indicative of a growing con-sumption of coffee over the course of the late 18th century.

Although the coffee trade grew as a whole, origins and destinations of coffee trade shifted and the growth in coffee trade was not equally spread. In France the coffee trade expanded, no longer was its origin limited to the coffee exports from Bordeaux, but also involved other French cities such as Nantes and Havre de Grace. Bordeaux remained the most important center of the French coffee trade. 87.2% of the coffee exports from France came from Bordeaux. Stettin and Danzig remained popular destinations for the coffee trade to which a little over fifty percent of the coffee trade flowed to. Trade from France fell into a steep decline in 1785 and ended entirely after 1794 when the British took over the French coffee producing colonies in the Caribbean. When peace was made in 1802 the export in coffee from Bordeaux carefully started again, to nowhere near the larger volumes of trade from the earlier period.

Until the French Revolutionary wars coffee from Great Britain followed a sim-ilar trend as the French coffee trade. The coffee exports from Great Britain came primarily from London, from which 82.6% of the British coffee exports originated. Coffee exports gradually expanded until 1785 after which they declined. From 1794 however the pattern in the export of coffee from Britain diverged from the export of coffee from France. When the British took over the French colonies they also took their trade in coffee. From 1794 the trade in coffee dramatically grew. Contrary to

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Chapter 8. The European Coffee Trade 23

FIGURE8.1: The Coffee Trade

cacao where the trade in cacao declined the trade in coffee shifted as British took over the export of coffee from the French. The coffee export from Great Britain went primarily to Stettin and Saint Petersburg. Coffee imports from Great Britain to Saint Petersburg grew particularly fast during after 1794. The total volume of coffee im-port to Saint Petersburg grew after 1794. Implying that consumption of coffee caught on in 1794. Following the conquest of the French colonies by Britain coffee exports didn’t seize but instead shifted from Bordeaux to London.

France and Great Britain were not the only countries whose coffee exports were affected by the French revolutionary wars. The coffee export from Amsterdam dra-matically dropped in 1795 after the French invasion and establishment of the Bata-vian Republic. Before the decline coffee exports from Amsterdam went further east-wards than the French or British coffee exports. Saint Petersburg, Riga and Konings-burg were popular destinations of the Dutch coffee exports. In comparison Danzig and Copenhagen were significantly less popular destinations. Over the late 18th century 237 shipments of coffee went to Saint Petersburg, whereas only 8 shipments of coffee went to Copenhagen. It would appear that while the Dutch were some of the early exporters of coffee to Saint Petersburg, the French Revolutionary wars dramatically shifted the trade flows of the coffee trade.

The late 18th century also saw the arrival of non-European trade within the Sound Toll Registers. This type of trade is shown on map 8.2. On the map it can be seen that most of the non-European trade arrived from the Americas. From North America coffee came from Boston and generally went to either Saint Petersburg or Copenhagen. The non-European imports to Saint Petersburg came exclusively from North America, with no imports arriving from the Caribbean. In Stockholm the exact opposite occurred. Trade didn’t arrive from North America and instead exclu-sively came from the Swedish colony of Saint Bartholemy. Notably absent were the

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24 Chapter 8. The European Coffee Trade German cities, Stettin and Danzig received no trade from the Americas. With En-glish and French coffee trade focused on the German market there was likely little need or taste to reach further beyond Europe.

FIGURE8.2: Non-European trade of coffee, 1772-1805

It’s possible that Copenhagen had a similar import-export role as London and Bordeaux. From the visualizations it became clear that Copenhagen not only im-ported coffee but also exim-ported coffee to nearby cities. The export range of Copen-hagen was fairly limited, often coffee was exported to cities in Sweden or Norway. It’s likely to assume that Copenhagen had a similar redistribution function for Ger-man cities. Although did not appear in the Sound Toll Registers, it would be in line with the exports of tea from Copenhagen.

Coffee trade showed both a structural development as well as sensitivities to political events. The coffee trade structurally grew and gradually involved more cities both as importers as exporters. Coffee trade was limited in the first half of the 18th century but developed over the course of the second half of the 18th century. During the second half it became clear that the French Revolutionary Wars had a profound effect on the coffee trade. Coffee trade exports shifted from Bordeaux and Amsterdam to London. At the same time Saint Petersburg acquired a taste for coffee and exports to Saint Petersburg grew, becoming a large importer of coffee next to the German markets of Stettin and Danzig. Growing consumption of coffee thus saw a growing amount of coffee trade, however where that coffee originated from depended highly on specific events such as the French Revolutionary Wars.

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25

Chapter 9

Sugar: the sweetest of trade

Sugar formed an important part of the colonial commodities. Whether it was tea, coffee or cacao, seldom were the drinks made without the inclusion of sugar. Ac-cording to Braudel (1992, p. 224-227) sugar was introduced into Europe at an early stage in the Middle Ages. Its production was fairly limited until the 18th century when sugar plantations began to form in the Americas. The labor intensive produc-tion created raw sugar. The raw sugar was shipped to Europe where it was refined in large port cities such as Amsterdam, London or Bordeaux. From there it quickly became a favorite luxury item within many households (Braudel, 1992).

The visualization of the sugar trade provided more details than the trade in tea or coffee. Sugar trade visualization gave a more accurate insight into the development of the sugar trade because the trade was listed in recognizable measurements which could be converted into kilograms. The growth of the sugar trade is shown in figure ˙It shows that the sugar trade gradually grew until 1780. After 1780 the trade in sugar dramatically rose, showing a bustling trade on the Sound.

FIGURE9.1: The Sugar Trade

In most of the 18th century the trade in sugar originated primarily from Ams-terdam. In fact for most of the 18th century before 1780 most of the sugar from the

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26 Chapter 9. Sugar: the sweetest of trade Baltics originated from Amsterdam. Amsterdam was not the sole supplier of sugar within the Baltics, but the numbers were quite staggering. 84.2% of the volume of the sugar trade pre-1780 originated from Amsterdam. Hamburg and London were distant second and third with 3.9% and 3% respectively. From Amsterdam the sugar trade flowed to various cities. Amsterdam supplied sugar to 43 cities within the Baltics, though some cities were only ever visited by a single ship containing Dutch sugar within the entire period. The sugar trade flowed mostly to a select number of cities. 28.9% of the total volume of the sugar trade was exported to Danzig from Amsterdam. Other large (more than 5%) importers of sugar from Amsterdam were Konigsberg (18.1%), Saint Petersburg (15.6%) and Riga (11.6%). The rankings in sugar exports from Amsterdam were identical in both volume of trade and number of voyages. Amsterdam was a vital point from which most of the sugar for the 18th century originated from.

The dominance of Amsterdam was largely due to its well established sugar re-finery industry which existed since the 17th century. According to Rössler (2007) the sugar industries of Amsterdam and Hamburg were superior to most others in Eu-rope until 1753. After 1753 gradual attempts were made to develop sugar refineries outside of Amsterdam and Hamburg. This development likely had an effect. After 1756 sugar was gradually and consistently exported from London. From 1756 until 1780 the trade in sugar from London gradually expanded. The visualization of the sugar trade shows that the trade initially went to Danzig but as time progressed En-glish sugar also reached other cities such Stettin and Stockholm. It’s possible that the trade in sugar from London to Stettin and Danzig coincided with each other as both developed similar patterns in this period. Though data from coffee is too unclear to ascertain a clear relationship. Regardless of its relationship to coffee, the sugar trade from London expanded within the period and became one of the few other trade flows that didn’t originate from Amsterdam.

London was not the only other origin of sugar trade outside of Amsterdam. From various cities in France sugar occasionally dripped into the Baltic. Unlike the trade from London or Amsterdam the trade from France pre-1780 was highly irregular. There existed gaps of 5 or 15 years between years in which trade occurred. Stein (1988, p. 93-102) argues that the sugar trade from France was irregular for several reasons. First the sugar trade was highly affected by various wars in which the French were involved in the 18th century. Sugar trade could fall into a steep decline whenever the colonies were exposed to war. Secondly, the French national policy was aimed at re-exporting raw sugar from the colonies, and held little interest in the refining of sugar itself. This meant that raw sugar was re-exported to Amsterdam and Hamburg which were the sugar refining capitals of the century. Two thirds of the French raw sugar was exported two the Dutch and German cities. The export of refined sugar from France was highly fractured which would result in the highly irregular development of the sugar exports to the Baltics (Stein, 1988).

With raw sugar from France heading to Hamburg, did refined sugar from Ham-burg head for the Baltics? Visualizations of the sugar trade show that sugar trade in-deed left Hamburg towards the Baltics, as can be seen on the map in figure9.2. Sugar shipments departed from Hamburg since 1725, and left for various cities through-out the Baltic Sea area. Much of the sugar trade from Hamburg went to the expected destination of Saint Petersburg (41.7%), Danzig (27.4%) and Konigsberg (11.2%). De-spite its reputation as a sugar refinery capital of Europe, Hamburg sugar export to the Baltic Sea area were considerably smaller than the sugar exports from Amster-dam. From Amsterdam a tenfold amount of sugar was exported to the Baltic Sea area compared to the sugar exports from Hamburg.

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Chapter 9. Sugar: the sweetest of trade 27 Many of the cities in the Baltic Sea area import their sugar primarily from Ams-terdam. The majority of the sugar exported to Danzig, Konigsberg and Saint Peters-burg originated from Amsterdam. The sugar trade before 1780 was heavily dom-inated by the Dutch traders, though there were exceptions. Only 3.6% of the total volume of sugar trade imported by Stettin came from Amsterdam. The majority of sugar came from France, particularly Bordeaux from which 46.5% of the sugar trade to Stettin came from. Stettin was more frequently visited by ship from Amsterdam containing sugar. 103 voyages were made from Amsterdam to Stettin, compared to 13 from Bordeaux. Wherever there was sugar traded in the Baltic Sea area there was high likelihood that the sugar originated from Amsterdam.

FIGURE9.2: Sugar trade from Hamburg, 1725-1778.

After 1780 trade of sugar rapidly expanded. Sugar now not only arrived from Amsterdam but involved many other cities as well. When looking at Amsterdam the sugar trade towards the Baltics did not grow but instead stagnated until 1795 after which it steeply declined. The sudden decline was to be expected as the French Revolutionary Wars dramatically changed the export of colonial goods as was seen with coffee and cacao. However the stagnation is out of line with the total sum of the trade in sugar passing through the Sound, which dramatically increased since 1780. The divergence can be seen in figure9.3. The Amsterdam trade in sugar was in line with the total amount of trade in sugar until 1780. Similar trend occurred for the export of sugar from Hamburg where the sugar trade showed similar levels of stagnation.

While the trade in sugar from Amsterdam and Hamburg stagnated, other origins of the sugar trade began to rise. Trade from France sharply rose in 1780 and stayed relatively high until the French Revolutionary Wars. According to Stein (1988, p. 104-105) the French colonies imported large quantities of slaves to work on the plan-tations in the 1780’s. This led to a large increase of sugar production to the point of overproduction. At the same time the French refineries began to change, shift-ing from small artisans to large factory-like estates refinshift-ing considerable amounts of sugar each year (Stein, 1988, p. 120-131). This growth in sugar trade from France

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28 Chapter 9. Sugar: the sweetest of trade

FIGURE9.3

quickly ended when the French Revolutionary Wars when the British occupied the French colonies in the Caribbean.

While the French Revolutionary Wars may have ended the export from France, Amsterdam and Hamburg it marked a steep increase in the trade from Great Britain. The occupation of the French colonies meant a shift in the origins of the trade in sugar. When the trade from France declined, the trade of sugar from Great Britain rose as can be seen in figure9.4. Though the origins of sugar may have shifted, Saint Peterburg and Stettin remained important destinations and the shift in origins didn’t greatly affect the destinations of the sugar trade.

Lastly the trade from the America’s was also recorded in the Sound Toll Regis-ters. 1780 saw increased exports from North America and the Caribbean islands. Trade from the America’s was considerably more focused on a select number of cities. The vast majority of this sugar trade flow arrived in Copenhagen, 78.3% of the volume of trade coming from the Americas flowed to Copenhagen. Of the trade flow, the majority originated from the Danish and Swedish colonies of St. Croix and St. Barthelemy as well the French colony Martinique. Copenhagen itself appeared to have had a similar function in the sugar trade as it did in the coffee trade. It’s unlikely that Copenhagen simply had a sudden craving for sweets. Instead Copen-hagen served as a redistribution center where sugar was re-exported to Norway and Sweden. Ports around Olso were solely dependent on Copenhagen for the import of sugar. Thus Copenhagen was a primary destination of the non-European trade in sugar, where it was partly re-exported to nearby ports.

The trade in sugar was thus primarily dominated by the cities of Amsterdam and Hamburg until 1780. After 1780 the export of sugar from Amsterdam and Hamburg remained stagnant while other origins of sugar trade rose in particular from France

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Chapter 9. Sugar: the sweetest of trade 29

FIGURE9.4

and the Americas. The French Revolutionary Wars meant an end of the trade in sugar from France, as well as Amsterdam and Hamburg. Instead of completely ending the trade to the Baltics as happened in the cacao trade, the trade flows of sugar shifted from France to Great Britain. The trade in sugar had thus its own unique development but with close similarities to other colonial goods.

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31

Chapter 10

The Pepper Trade to the Baltic Sea

Contrary to tea or coffee pepper is a known old spice in Europe. According to Braudel (1992, pp. 220-224) the imports of pepper to Europe were well established in the 17th century. Around 1700 pepper was consumed in large quantities by the Dutch, but it was especially popular in the East. In Russia and Polish areas spices were richly used in meals, more so than in other European places. Yet despite its rich use or perhaps because of its rich use it fell out of favor as a luxury product. Where the 18th century was marked as the rise of the luxury products of coffee and tea, it equally turned pepper from a luxury product into a common commodity (Braudel, 1992).

Initial visualizations confirm the image of a well-established trade network. Much of the trade in pepper remained in certain trade flows. Over 80% of the volume of the trade in pepper flowed from London and Amsterdam over the course of the 18th century. Visualizations show that until 1794 there was little deviation from these two trade flows. Whatever existed outside these two trade flows was relatively small or consisted of only a couple of voyages within a single year.

Notably absent was the presence of any French trade. Until 1780 8 shipments of pepper left French ports for the Baltic Sea area. Only after 1780 were there fre-quent shipments of pepper from the French ports towards the Baltic Sea area. Con-trary to the colonial goods which primarily arrived from Bordeaux, the French trade in pepper originated from Sète (Cette) in the Mediterranean area. Trade from Bor-deaux was considerably less important than the trade from Sète. Though here too the French Revolutionary Wars impacted the trade. From 1793 until 1798 the trade in pepper from France came to a complete standstill, but afterwards the trade re-covered and continued in a similar pace, seemingly less dramatically affected by the wars than the sugar or coffee trade.

Also absent was Copenhagen. Though trade from Copenhagen did exist, it was spread over a large amount of cities across Western Europe. Copenhagen did not appear to have the same distribution function as it did for the sugar or coffee trade. Instead pepper went mostly to French and Scottish cities. Copenhagen itself received most of its trade from Amsterdam and London. Trade in pepper in Copenhagen was thus more dynamic, though the received amount of pepper never exceeded the amount send to other cities.

Though Copenhagen didn’t have the same role it had as with the coffee or sugar trade, it was not a role which went entirely absent. Gothenburg appeared to have had the function of a distribution center. With the exception of trade to Saint Peters-burg, the export of pepper from Gothenburg remained local. Trade from Gothenburg went to nearby Swedish or Danish, with the occasional voyage to Lübeck. Larger recipients of pepper in the Baltics such as Danzig or Stettin didn’t appear to have received any pepper from Gothenburg.

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32 Chapter 10. The Pepper Trade to the Baltic Sea For much of the 18th century Amsterdam remained the primary port of origin of the trade in pepper. The trade flows of Amsterdam were well established in the 18th century and until 1795 didn’t heavily shift. The destinations of the trade in pep-per from Amsterdam in the early 18th century is shown on the map in figure10.1. For most of the 18th century this flow of trade remained relatively the same. Un-til the 1770 the majority of the export of pepper went to Danzig. Yet as the 18th century progressed an increasing amount of pepper was exported to Saint Peters-burg. In the 1770’s Saint Petersburg overtook Danzig as the primary destination to which the Dutch pepper was exported to. After the French invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1795 the pepper trade from Amsterdam collapsed. What once was a well-established trade network with hundreds of shipments leaving Amsterdam, was now a few dozen ships leaving port mostly heading for Saint Petersburg.

FIGURE10.1: Destinations of the export of pepper from Amsterdam,

1700-1710. (In red origins, in blue destinations).

In addition to the examination of the visualizations of the pepper trade from Amsterdam, cross correlations were made between the prices of pepper in the Dutch Republic (Malinowski, 2018) and the trade in pepper to the Baltics. Price correlations however didn’t show any significant correlation between the price of pepper and the volume of the pepper trade within a lag range of 3 years. Each of the results ended with a near 0 or 0 R-squared number with a high p value. Much of the pepper trade shifted regardless of the prices in Amsterdam. The year on year difference in price showed no correlation with the year on year changes in volume either. Trade in pepper developed irrespective of the prices set in the Dutch Republic.

Though the 18th century saw the decline of the pepper trade from Amsterdam it also marked the rise of the pepper trade from London. The pepper trade from London gradually grew in the 18th century. Each decade of the 18th century saw a steady growth in the number of cities reached and in the volume of trade that went to those cities. Unlike the trade in sugar the trade in pepper didn’t appear to be greatly affected by the French Revolutionary Wars. Trade continued to grow but did not gain a benefit from the war. As can be seen in figure 10.2activity in the trade in pepper systematically grew over the course of the second half of the 18th

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Chapter 10. The Pepper Trade to the Baltic Sea 33 century. Trade from London was less affected by the political upheaval of the time and instead progressively grew over the course of the 18th century.

FIGURE10.2

For London cross correlation were made between prices (obtained from the Global Price and Income History Group on June 20th, 2018) and the export of pepper within a lag range of 3 years, similarly to examinations of the pepper trade from Amster-dam. As with the trade in pepper from Amsterdam the increase in the volume of trade did not correlate with the price series. In the correlations within a range of 3 years every price-volume correlation had an R-squared of less than 0.1. The London trade was uninfluenced by the prices set in London, nor were the prices in London influenced by the export to the Baltics.

Contrary to other colonial goods the trade in pepper was a well-established phe-nomenon at the start of the 18th century. Amsterdam dominated the trade in pepper for much of the 18th century. Yet competition arose from Great Britain and France. Pepper exports from London structurally grew over the 18th century. And from 1780 until the French Revolutionary Wars pepper gradually arrived from Sète. The wars ended the dominance of the Dutch in the pepper trade, leaving the British in

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34 Chapter 10. The Pepper Trade to the Baltic Sea London as the dominant force in the pepper trade from 1795. The pepper trade visualizations show a complex trade network where structural developments and incidental events developed the trade.