- North America
An economy of wrecking and sponging
The poor post-emancipation colony lived largely on salvaging shipwrecks, sponge-fishing and salt, with wrecking for a time its single largest source of income.
Era: Wrecking, blockade-running and rum
Sources: Bahamas: Local History and Genealogy — Research Guide · Library of Congress, The Bahamas — British colonization (History) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
From slaving to 'legitimate' trade
As the slave trade was suppressed, commerce on the coast turned to palm oil and other goods, and German and other European merchant houses established themselves at Aného and along the shore.
Era: The coast, the Guin and the Slave Coast
Sources: Togo (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Togoland · Wikipedia
- Oceania
Gold rushes begin
Discoveries of gold in New South Wales and Victoria triggered rushes that drew hundreds of thousands of migrants, transforming the colonies' population, economy, and society within a decade.
Era: Colonial expansion, gold rushes, and frontier conflict
Sources: Australian gold rushes · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Defining Moments: Eureka Stockade · National Museum of Australia
- Africa
British blockade of Dahomey's ports
Britain imposed a naval blockade to force Dahomey to end the slave trade; Ghezo agreed in 1852 but soon resumed slaving, as palm oil rose to become the kingdom's chief legitimate export.
Era: Ouidah, the slave trade, King Ghezo and the Agojie
Sources: The compatibility of the slave and palm oil trades in Dahomey, 1818–1858 · Cambridge University Press (From Slave Trade to 'Legitimate' Commerce), Ghezo · Wikipedia
- South America
Falkland Islands Company chartered
The Falkland Islands Company received a royal charter in 1851 and grew into the colony's largest landowner and sheep rancher, central to its wool economy.
Era: The Pastoral Colony of Sheep and Wool
Sources: Falkland Islands — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
Panama Railroad completed
Spurred by the California Gold Rush, a U.S. company completes the trans-isthmus railroad, the shortest route between the oceans.
Era: A Province of Colombia
Sources: Panama: A Country Study · Library of Congress Country Studies, Panama · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
The Bowring Treaty
King Mongkut signs the Bowring Treaty with Britain, opening Siam to Western trade and granting extraterritoriality; comparable treaties with other powers follow.
Era: Siam's Survival: Mongkut, Chulalongkorn, and the Imperial Century
Sources: Bowring Treaty · Encyclopædia Britannica, Mongkut (Rama IV) · Encyclopædia Britannica
Economy & Trade in the 1850s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged economy and trade — trade, currency, industry and resources, narrowed to the 1850s — 7 of them, drawn from 7 nations, running from 1850 to 1855. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 7
- Nations
- 7
- Earliest
- 1850
- Latest
- 1855
- Africa
- 2
- North America
- 2
- Asia
- 1
- Oceania
- 1
- South America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.