The RICardo project

RICardo (Research on International Commerce) is a project dedicated to trade between nations over a period spanning the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the eve of the Second World War. It combines a historical trade database covering the bilateral trade of all countries of the world and a website which invites to an exploration of the history of international trade through data visualizations. RICardo opens the way for new research, especially on the history and geography of trade. By relying as much as possible on primary trade statistics publications, the RICardo database reflects the complexity of both historical trade statistics and the historical world trade network. Combining economic history with digital technology, RICardo can help produce a new vision and understanding of the process of trade globalization over the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.