The rapid growth in world trade in the 19th century depended heavily on advance in maritime technology, most specifically on the increasing efficiency of the steam engine. The relationship between trade and technology was a two-way process. On the one hand, new trading opportunities stimulated technological change in ship propulsion. On the other, the same process of technological change actually created trades that would not have been economically viable in the pre-steam age. Inevitably, the balance between trade and technology was unstable, and produced casualities on both sides of the business process. This lecture will employ case studies in success and failure to support conclusions on the general state of the trade/technology equation.

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