The most dynamic sector of overseas trade in the eighteenth century was undoubtedly that conducted across the Atlantic. Trade with the rest of Europe was buoyant, and that with India and the Far East showed real promise, but the great multiplication of activity was with the rapidly growing North American seaboard (Table 0.4). The major British ports for this trade were originally London, Glasgow and Bristol (Table 1.5), but as the northern industrial regions accelerated their growth, Liverpool and Manchester became the fastest growing centres of trade. In the nineteenth century the two centres advanced by leaps and bounds until, at mid-century, Liverpool's shipping tonnage exceeded that of London. This development is clearly one of the most outstanding in the growth of British trade to its dominant position, not only in the Atlantic economy but also at a later stage in the trade to the Far East. The enterprise of the northern ports will be examined in this chapter to identify their main characteristics.

Subsequent chapters will deal with other sectors of British trading enterprise and the specialised types of mercantile organisations that served them: Europe (the international houses), South and South- East Asia (the agency houses) and the home market (the home trade houses). In each case, the culture and British approach to the particular trade sector stimulated the evolution of particular types of enterprise.