Source: Adapted from Malachy Postlethwayt, British economic writer, *The African Trade the Great Pillar and Support of the British Plantation Empire*, pamphlet, 1745.
"The transatlantic trade is the foundation of our wealth and power. It is this commerce which supporteth our navigation, employeth our landholders, and provides constant occupation for our manufacturers. The immense riches annually imported from our plantations, arising from the labor of enslaved Africans, are not merely consumed in luxury; rather, they return to the mother country as capital. This accumulated wealth is circulating through our banks, improving our agricultural lands, cutting canals, and giving life to new domestic industries. Without the secure possession of these colonial markets and the wealth they yield, our domestic manufactures would languish for want of capital and demand."
Which of the following best explains how the commercial developments described in the passage acted as a key socio-economic precondition for the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain?
- The profits generated from transoceanic trade networks and plantation slavery accumulated capital that financed domestic investments, such as infrastructure and credit systems.Cevap
- BThe immediate adoption of laissez-faire capitalist policies and the total abolition of mercantilist trade regulations by the British Crown stimulated private industrial competition.
- CThe capital accumulated from the plantation trade was directly channeled into the development of steel production, electricity, and internal combustion engines.
- DThe acquisition of direct territorial colonies in East Asia allowed Britain to monopolize the manufacturing of silk and porcelain, which replaced agricultural labor.