From sugar triangle to cotton triangle : trade and shipping between America and Baltic Russia, 1783-1860

Kalevi Ahonen tutki työssään Yhdysvaltain ja Venäjän välisen kaupan, kauppamerenkulun ja kauppapoliittisten suhteiden kehittymistä vuosina 1763-1860. Yhdysvaltain ja Venäjän välisestä kauppavaihdosta 90-95 % kulki Itämeren satamien ja Juutinrauman kautta. Vertailuaineistonaan hän on päätynyt käyttämään Juutinrauman tullitilastoja, koska molempien maiden ulkomaankauppatilastoja pidetään itsessään vajavaisina.Ahonen etsi tullikirjoista amerikkalaiset alukset, joita lähes 80 vuoden aikana purjehti salmesta noin 9500. Hän käytti näiden alusten lasteja sekä niiden koti-, lastaus- ja määräsatamatietoja keskeisimpänä tilastomateriaalinaan. Hän käytti työssään myös muita lähteitä, mm. Itämeren piirissä toimineiden amerikkalaisten ja englantilaisten lähettiläiden ja konsulien raportteja. Ahonen tarkastelee työssään mm. valtioiden välistä kauppadiplomatiaa, kaupan piirissä toimivia yrittäjiä sekä heidän toimintatapansa. Myös kauppavaihdon määrä on hänen huomionsa kohteena.The purpose of this study is to discuss the development of trade and polito-commercial relations between the U.S and Russia from the Treaty of Paris in 1783 to 1860. The problems are approached on four levels: 1) commercial diplomacy between the countries, 2) the entrepreneurs involved in commerce and their activities, 3) mercantile shipping, 4) the volume of trade.The neutrality of trade and the seas (free ships-free goods) was the cornerstone of American commercial and foreign policy. Britain did not accept the principle in the forms proposed by Washington and the Department of State sought support from Russia. The results were poor. Articles of neutrality were even omitted from the commercial treaty concluded between Russia and the U.S. in 1832. In the name of freedom of the seas the U.S.took the initiative in the abolition of the old Danish Sound dues in 1857. Most of the entrepreneurs in American trade with Baltic Russia were from New England, as were the ships, brigs, barks and schooners that crossed the Atlantic. At first insufficient information about the distant markets was the biggest obstacle to commercial intercourse. The captains and supercargoes played a crucial role in getting the best cargoesfor the Russian markets and find the most reliable trading house in St Petersburg to deal with.In practice about 90-95 percent of the trade between Russia and the U.S was carried through the Sound, 95 percent of it on American vessels. According to the Sound Toll Accounts and Consular reports altogether 9500 American vessels sailed to the Baltic and back in the period 1783-1860. Most of them visited St Petersburg. European wars created new opportunities for the Americans to trade with Russia. During the Continental SystemAmericans sailing under the neutral flag ”found” excellent markets for their colonial products in St Petersburg. The good days came to an end during the Anglo-American War in 1812-14.Initially the U.S. imports from Russia were bar iron, hemp and “manufactures” (i.e. hemp and flax cloths). The main American exports and re-exports to St. Petersburg consisted of a wide range of products (e.g. sugar, rice, tobacco, coffee, cotton, spices). From the 1820s onwards American merchants created ”the sugar triangle”: the trade from New England via Havana to St Petersburg and back to the ports of Massachusetts or New York. The sugar carried by the Americans was worth over twice as much as direct exports from the U.S. to Russia. At the beginning of the 1850s ”the cotton triangle” entered the scene. Americans carried cotton wool from Southern ports to St Petersburg and sailed back to western Europe, New York or Boston. The raw sugar and cotton the Americans carried gave a major boost to the creation of modern industrial production in Russia. British money played a central role in the shipments of sugar and cotton. Over 45 percent of the American tonnage involved in commerce with Russia did not trade directly between the two countries