Publisher's Synopsis
Does commerce have a personality in the early modern era? The selection of papers offered here attempts to answer the question in various ways. Illustrating the intercontinental trading activities of the four main trading nations û Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, Britain û together with the smaller participants like France, Prussia, and Scandinavia, the editors draw out the differences in commercial organisation and the aspirations of merchants. Particular forms of organisation such as joint-stock monopolies feature heavily in the treatment adopted here, and there are discussions of mercantalism, privateering and piracy. The volume identifies a first expansion circuit in which crown participation in intercontinental trade was vital, and a second expansion circuit, more integrated with European trade, where merchants cooperated for self-interest rather than at the direct behest of government.
