The Effect of Monopoly Power and the Establishment of Imperial Preference

Abstract

As regular trading links were established between the Caribbean and North America from the middle of the nineteenth century, ships from the United States would take on board small quantities of those tropical fruits, which could endure the journey. As a consequence the possibilities of the banana as an export crop was becoming increasingly appreciated. For example, in 1867, the Governor of Jamaica, Sir John Peter Grant stated in his annual report that the island might have great potential in developing a significant banana export trade (West India Committee Circular, 9 April 1912). However, the most important encouragement given to Jamaica’s banana export industry came from American businessmen, such as George Busch and Lorenzo Dow Baker, who began regular banana shipments from the island in the early 1870s.