This commerce attained its present importance through thecolonisation of Europeans in the East and West Indies, and in Northand South America through the transplantation of the sugar cane, ofthe coffee tree, of cotton, rice, indigo, &c., through thetransportation of negroes as slaves to America and the West Indies,then through the successful competition of the European with theEast Indian manufacturers, and especially through the extension ofthe Dutch and English sovereignty in foreign parts of the world,while these nations, in contrast to the Spaniards and Portuguese,sought and found their advantage more in the exchange ofmanufactured goods for colonial goods, than in extortion.
This commerce at present employs the most important part of thelarge shipping trade and of the commercial and manufacturingcapital of Europe which is employed in foreign commerce; and allthe hundreds of millions in value of such products which aretransported annually from the countries of the torrid zone to thoseof the temperate zone are, with but little exception, paid for inmanufactured goods.
The exchange of colonial products for manufactured goods is ofmanifold use to the productive powers of the countries of thetemperate zone.These articles serve either, as e.g.sugar, coffee,tea, tobacco, partly as stimulants to agricultural andmanufacturing production, partly as actual means of nourishment;the production of the manufactured goods which are required to payfor the colonial products, occupies a larger number ofmanufacturers; manufactories and manufacturing business can beconducted on a much larger scale, and consequently more profitably;this commerce, again, employs a larger number of ships, of seamen,and merchants; and through the manifold increase of the populationthus occasioned, the demand for native agricultural products isagain very greatly increased.
In consequence of the reciprocal operation which goes onbetween manufacturing production and the productions of the torridzone, the English consume on an average two to three times morecolonial produce than the French, three to four times more than theGermans, five to ten times more than the Poles.
Moreover, the further extension of which colonial production isstill capable, may be recognised from a superficial calculation ofthe area which is required for the production of those colonialgoods which are at present brought into commerce.
If we take the present consumption of cotton at ten millioncentners, and the average produce of an acre (40,000 square feet)only at eight centners, this production requires not more than 11/4 million acres of land.If we estimate the quantity of sugarbrought into commerce at 14 million centners, and the produce of anacre at 10 centners, this total production requires merely 1 1/2million acres.
If we assume for the remaining articles (coffee, rice, indigo,spices, &c.) as much as for these two main articles, all thecolonial goods at present brought into commerce require no morethan seven to eight million acres, an area which is probably notthe fiftieth part of the surface of the earth which is suitable forthe culture of such articles.