Join James Fichter as he discusses profit and peril in the new trade to As ia
\nWith independence from Britain secured\, in the 1780s American began trading to Asia for themselves. They bought tea in China. They saile d to the East India Company-administered India for cloth\, to Yemen and Du tch Java for coffee\, to Sumatra for pepper\, and to many other ports in b etween. The trade to Asia accelerated as the French Revolutionary and Napo leonic Wars (1793-1815) kept European traders out of Asian waters\, creati ng a tussle between between British and American crews to supply French-oc cupied Europe with Asian goods. This process created a new class of Americ an investor-capitalists and the first American millionaires. Yet such weal th came at a cost\, as the ever growing and increasingly wealthy American trading fleet was a tempting target for foreign states and pirates—from Br itain and France to Barbary and Yemen—against which the U.S. Navy was not always a match.
\nThis program is part of the Conflict & Community: Salem\, Essex County\, and the American Rev olution lecture series. This series is a partnership bet ween Essex Heritage and Salem Maritime National Historical Park and highli ghts the unique role of Essex County communities during the American Revol ution.
\n\nhttps://essexheritage.org/event/to-the-farthest-ports-o f-the-rich-east-profit-and-peril-in-the-new-trade-to-asia/ LOCATION:Salem Armory Visitor Center\, 2 New Liberty Street\, Salem\, Massa chusetts URL:https://essexheritage.org/event/to-the-farthest-ports-of-the-rich-east- profit-and-peril-in-the-new-trade-to-asia/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR