This immense commerce : the trade between Puerto Rico and Great Britain, 1844-1898

Abstract

It has generally been assumed that the trade between Puerto Rico and Great Britain during the nineteenth century was not greatly significant for either country. The importance of Spain, and especially the United States, as trading partners for Puerto Rico has been over-emphasised while British historians have shown little interest in examining any possible commercial relationship between the two countries.

This essay demonstrates that Great Britain was one of Puerto Rico's most important trade partners during the nineteenth century. It became an avid customer for the island's sugar between 1846 and the mid 1860's, during which time it not only prevented the island's exterior trade and economy from being dominated by one nation (the United States) but also helped avert two serious economic crises, that of the 1840's and that which would have been caused by the contraction of trade during the U.S. Civil War. It was also consistently the island's most important supplier of such important articles as rice, fish, textiles, coal, machinery and metals.

Similarly, for Britain, Puerto Rico became an important customer. It possessed a wide range of features (economical, geographical, political, and social) which compared favourably with most of the other Latin American countries. Commercial ties between both countries remained strong until the United States occupation in 1898.

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