The British Imperial Expansion

Britain had not, however, neglected the values of Malaya’s tin which dominated the world market and she was successfully exploiting this both before and after the war. The main mineral deficiency throughout the empire was in oil products and iron ore, but Britain’s interest in the Middle East in the twentieth century was designed to counteract the oil problem. In the case of Britain’s exports, again she looked more closely to the empire as her main outlet, since foreign markets were being lost either by her being shut out or because she failed to meet foreign competition. By the 1930s the empire was becoming the vital outlet for her industrial goods. “India was the main buyer, followed by Australia although South Africa made a temporary surge in the 1930s. The main foreign buyer was the United States. The closer empire tie for British exports was not, however, reciprocated by the individual colonies.”17 Canada, for example, was more dependent upon the United States than upon Britain for her manufactures. Ceylon together with Australia in the twentieth century obtained more of their imports from sources other than Britain. Moreover, some of the West Indies islands were also choosing American suppliers over British. During the twentieth century as it progressed more and more well established economies kept cutting down Britain’s share of their imports, while there was generally some increase in the empire share as well as in the foreign share. Although there was in most cases a slight British recovery just after 1925, by mid 1930s the decline set in again. “Even in the dependent empire there was a growing swing away from British manufacturers: Malaya, for example, looking to foreign and empire sources, Ceylon to empire sources and Hong Kong to foreign sources. By contrast West Africa still looked to Britain.”18