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World's Greatest Port

World's Greatest Port

London was viewed as home of the world’s greatest port and manufacturing center. The Thames River was the greatest roadway of London, functioning as the hub of most economic activity. Several bridges, including London Bridge, Westminster Bridge, and Blackfriars Bridge were constructed to handle the rapid growth of the city.


This image portion shows the Blackfriars Bridge and Southwark Bridge, as they were developed across the Thames River.


In addition to these bridges, nearly 40,000 watermen were employed to row passengers up, down, and across the river. The Thames was responsible for a great deal of the financial stability of the city, as it was the main source of imports and exports such as ivory, oil, wine, tobacco, rice, indigo, cotton, grain, furs, hemp, coal, iron and lumber.


The heavy traffic that travelled on the Lower Thames almost paralyzes travel and trade.

The overall development of the city was most prevalent visually when one viewed the boat traffic on the Thames – as the century unfolded, it became so dense that travel was almost impossible at times.