Britain's empire reached far across the world. But many British ships carried goods on shorter trips. They traveled between British ports and to other European countries. In 1696 and 1697, trade with Europe made up 80 percent of the total value of Britain's trade with the world.
Researchers at the University of Southampton studied old port records. These handwritten pages list ships, goods and journeys from 1565 onward. The team used artificial intelligence, or AI, to help computers read the writing. People still checked the results. The researchers put the information online. Users can search by ship, goods, port or year. They can also see the routes on a map.
The records show links to more than 3,000 ports around the world. More than 1,000 were in Britain. Coal appeared most often among the goods the team studied. The records listed it more than 101,000 times. Ships also carried grain and other important goods between English ports. This trade close to home played a big part in the country's economy.
