I recall a lecture by one of my first history professors concerning New World trade and war. More specifically he was discussing the phenomena of English Imperialism of the time. The lecture ranged from trade to warfare and from locations from the colonies to the East Indies.
However it was one detail that caught my attention: the unique status of English Iron. The professor asserted that one of the elements of English success was the uniqueness of their iron. He claimed that the iron found in England contained fewer impurities and when smelted down and sequentially molded into cannon, it