Scott Tucker

The role of ships and merchant shipping in seventeenth-century British colonialism in the Chesapeake.

Supervisor: Professor Jon Adams

Abstract:

British expansion in the New World was in its infancy at the beginning of the seventeenth-century. During this period, Britain’s commercial enterprise in North America allowed for a huge expansion in its worldwide colonial holdings. The tobacco trade of Virginia and Maryland in particular was the most lucrative enterprise for Britain at this time, save for the sugar trade in the Caribbean, and perhaps facilitated this expansion more so than any other single trade good. Innovation of ship design and the development of ports are examined to identify their role in growth of commerce in the early days of British colonial development.

email: sat1g08@soton.ac.uk