investment in the empire

• how high did investment come up from 1890-1913?

  £2 billion -> £4 billion. NOTE: not all investments were with the empire
• why were loans seen as dangerous?

  overall they were regarded as safe but loans with foreign nations may provide a bigger return.

  • also may be used to build bigger rival manufactures to Britain, for example Indias cotton/jute mills.
• why were loans seen as beneficial?

  Colonial Loans and Colonial Stocks Act of 1889 and 1900 gave a number or projects:

  • rail links to African interior from ports of Lagos and Mombasa
• why were investments important?

  in 1914, Britain invested twice amount of French and three times amount of Germans (?), treaties were also made with Latin American countries, Turkey, Morocco, Siam, Japan ect. Free trade suited Britain as they earned huge overseas ands can afford to import vastly more than export due to 'invisibles' (exports that provide income but aren't physical, like insurance)
• importance of gold standard at this time? (around 1900s)

  Britain had set standard for international monetary system, forcing other nations to mirror Britain by adopting the gold standard (symbol of British strength, especially when Bank of England adopted it by 1921)

  • important to note by 1908 only China, Persia and a handful of US countries remained the 'silver standard'.