SECTOR COMERCIO EN EL MUNDO, COLOMBIA,

In spite of rapid industrial development in other northern European countries and the United States, Britain remained the leading manufacturing nation in terms of output per capita until the turn of the century when overtaken by the United States (Broadberry, 1998, p. 378) and in Europe by Germany.

The period 1870 to 1914 can be described as the period when people in Britain started to benefit from industrialisation. Legislation in the 1870s required local governments to take responsibility for water quality and sanitation (Szreter, 1988, p. 14) and this is considered to be a major factor in the reduction of cholera and typhoid (Millward & Bell, 1998, p. 268). Food safety was also addressed, resulting in the appointment of food inspectors in the 1880s (Szreter, 1988, p. 16). These factors plus better housing and improved nutrition made possible by increased incomes during the period are considered to have resulted in better

health and reduced mortality (Millward & Bell, 1998, p. 285), this being demonstrated by an increase in life expectancy at birth in Britain as a whole from 41 in 1870 to about 52 in 1914 (Hicks & Allen, 1999, p. 8).Literacy improved from about 75% in 1850 to 96% in 1900. (Cameron, 1985, p. 21).

In 1870, the affordability of railway travel improved with the advent of cheap fares (Freeman, 1984, p. 511) and rail travel became a mass market commodity (Leunig, 2005, p. 50). Passenger traffic doubled from 1870 to 1900, a trend that continued albeit at a slower rate (Irving, 1978, p. 61), this being attributed to the value of time saved compared with other forms of transport outweighing the cost (Leunig, 2005, p. 44). The steam engine remained the major power source for industry and transport until the 1920s (Crafts & Mills, 2004, p. 159). From the 1920s, gradually the electrical motor replaced the steam engine as the source of rotating drive and by the 1920s electric motor drive equalled central steam engine drive in terms of horsepower output and by 1940, steam engine drive only accounted for 10% of total (Devine, 1983, p. 351). From the mid-1930s, the internal combustion engine started to make an impact in terms of bus travel and the motor car and by 1950, nearly 50% of people used these forms of transport for journeys to work; however, this was instead walking or by bicycle rather than at the expense of rail travel (Pooley & Turnbull, 2000, p. 15).

The rate of household electricity connections was slow until 1920 when the rate increased rapidly and by 1940, about 80% of households were connected. In the early stages of household electrification, radios and irons were the most popular appliances followed later by vacuum cleaners and space heaters (from the 1940s). 1950 marked the start of the era when appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, kettles and televisions became commonplace in British households (Bowers, 1988, p. 293).

Figure 2 – HDI and Energy Consumption in Britain – 1880 to 1960

Based on data in Crafts (1997a, 1997b) and Humphrey and Stanislaw(1979) 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00 50.00 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1880 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1960 EN ER G Y C O N SUM PTION (G J/ C A PITA) HDI HDI ENERGY

It can be argued therefore that by 1960, the majority of people in Britain enjoyed a reasonable standard of living with health and education services that showed substantial improvements from those in place in 1900 as measured by life expectancy, infant mortality and literacy. Figure 2 above shows the increase in HDI and energy consumption from 1890 to 1960, noting that data for the period 1910 to 1940 is incomplete and some extrapolation was necessary. However, the slight dip in HDI between 1910 and 1920 could be explained as an impact of the First World War while the static energy consumption could have been influenced by both the War and the Great Depression. Over the total period 1880 to 1960, the annual rate of increase in HDI from 1880 to 1960 was just over 1% compared with 0.7% from 1760 to 1880. The annual rate of increase in energy consumption per capita was far more rapid in the earlier period, however, at about 6% per annum compared with 0.5% from 1880 to 1960. The difference is likely to reflect that fact that at the beginning of the earlier period, the use of inanimate energy was very low and the period commenced from a very low base.

In terms of quality of life, electrification which was near universal by 1960, provided access to labour saving devices in the home and access to the world through radio and, as the 1960s proceeded, television. Transport systems – railways, buses, ships, aeroplanes and private motorcars – enabled people to travel quickly and affordably. These livelihood services which enabled a “modern” lifestyle, all relied on energy services with coal still “king” providing 90% of primary energy requirements in 1950 (Humphrey & Stanislaw, 1979, p. 41).

By 1960, industrialisation was essentially complete not only in Britain but also in North America and northern

Europe. A decade earlier development associated with industrialisation10_{had also begun in the much of the}

world outside of the already industrialised countries of northern Europe and North America. In the next section, I review briefly the relevance of “northern” industrialisation to Niue and Tuvalu.

2.2.3 Industrialisation, Globalisation and Colonisation in the Context of Niue and Tuvalu