provisioning trade – economic sector based on farming and manufacturing goods to fulfill needs of plantations and societies in European colonies of the West Indies and Americas; usually involves stock-herding, transport, metal and leatherwork.

“But, whatever the aspirations of this commercial gentry, the provisioning trade could not support a plantation regime.” (Ira Berlin, “Time, Space and the Evolution of Afro-American Society on Mainland British North America.” The American Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 1, Feb. 1980, p 47.)

• Interesting to note how connected the colonies were, as local outposts and “factories” with businesses created to satisfy each other’s capitalist needs.
• Would like to know more about the colonial timeline and just how much “Mainland British North America” was indebted to the earlier colonies established in the Caribbean.
• Slightly surprising that the trade wasn’t more lucrative, but limitations in transportation/shipping, economic development, and early trade laws probably had some influence on why profits were minimal.

Janelle Poe 

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