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The Growth Of Trade: Modern Cities — Effect of Trade and Transport. The period of exploration and discovery, beginning in the 15th century, heralded a new era in urban development. World trade replaced local trade. Cities that could exchange manufactured goods for the food and raw materials of distant continents had almost unlimited growth potential. The die was cast for an urban revolution when the ships of the early navigators first entered the bays and rivers of the New World, and the impetus given city growth by Columbus' voyage never relaxed its force until the New World became an old world with a mature economy of its own.
As trade, manufactures and cities flourished, so likewise did the independence of the individual increase. The burgher had to exercise his personal judgment and taste in the wares he made or bought, so, too, did he in the art he ordered. Out of this the individuality of the artist emerged, for the patron would seek out that artist whose style and expression pleased him most. The growth of trade encouraged inventions and discoveries.
Invisible Trade. To compensate the deficit on commodity, or "visible," trade, "invisible" trade traditionally has shown a substantial surplus. It still does, but the surplus is shrinking both in absolute and relative terms. The inflow of interest, profits, and dividends has kept up best, despite a rapid growth of annual reverse payments to for the "sterling area," which was constituted in the immediate post-World War II years by countries, mostly in the Commonwealth, that made their currencies freely exchangeable among themselves and maintained a common pooled reserve in London. Since then the importance of Britain's trade with the rest of the sterling area (RSA) has diminished, but the burdens and risks of holding the reserves of partners over which Britain has no control have multiplied.
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