From England, Antwerp Imports Immense Quantities Of Fine And
Coarse Woollen Goods; The Finest Wool; Excellent Saffron, But In Small
Quantities; a great quantity of lead and tin; sheep and rabbit skins, and
other kinds of fine peltry and leather;
Beer, cheese, and other sorts of
provisions, in great quantities; also Malmsey wines, which the English
import from Candia."
Guicciardini observes, that Antwerp exported but little to Scotland, as
that country was principally supplied from England and France: some
spiceries, sugars, madder, wrought silks, camblets, serges, linen, and
merceries, are exported. In return, Antwerp received from Scotland vast
quantities of peltry of various kinds, leather, wool, cloth of coarse
quality, fine large pearls, but not of quite so good a water as the
oriental pearls.
The exports to Ireland were nearly the same as to Scotland: the returns
were skins and leather, some low-priced cloths, and other coarse and common
articles of little value.
The exports to Spain consisted chiefly of copper, brass, and latten,
wrought and unwrought; tin, lead; much woollen cloth, both Flemish and
English; serges, tapestry, linens, flax-thread, wax, pitch, madder, tallow,
sulphur, wheat, rye, salted meat and fish, butter, cheese, merceries,
silver bullion and wrought, arms, ammunition, furniture, tools; and every
thing also, he adds, produced by human industry and labour, to which the
lower classes in Spain have an utter aversion. From Spain, Antwerp received
jewels, pearls, gold and silver in great quantities; cochineal,
sarsaparilla, guiacum, saffron; silk, raw and thrown; silk stuffs, velvets,
taffeties, salt, alum, orchil, fine wool, iron, cordovan leather, wines,
oils, vinegar, honey, molasses, Arabian gums, soap; fruits, both moist and
dried, in vast quantities, and sugar from the Canaries.
The exports to Portugal were silver bullion, quicksilver, vermilion,
copper, brass, and latten; lead, tin, arms, artillery and ammunition; gold
and silver thread, and most of the other articles sent to Spain. From
Portugal, Antwerp received pearls and precious stones, gold, spices, to the
value of above a million of crowns annually; drugs, amber, musk, civet,
great quantities of ivory, aloes, rhubarb, cotton, China root, (then and
even lately much used in medicine,) and many other rare and valuable Indian
commodities, with which the greatest part of Europe is supplied from
Antwerp; also, sugars from St. Thomas, under the line, and the other
islands belonging to the Portuguese on the African coast; Brazil wood,
Guinea grains, and other drugs from the west coast of Africa; Madeira sugar
and wines. Of the produce of Portugal itself, Antwerp imported salt, wines,
oils, woad, seeds, orchil, fruits, &c. &c.
To Barbary, Antwerp exported woollen goods, linen, merceries, metals, &c.;
and received from it sugar, azure or anil, gums, coloquintida, leather,
peltry, and fine feathers.
From this sketch of the commerce of Antwerp, when it was at its height, we
see, that it embraced the whole commerce of the world: and that in it
centered all the commodities supplied by Asia, America, Africa, and the
south of Europe on the one hand, and England, the Baltic countries,
Germany, and France on the other.
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