Early Modern historians have long been fascinated by the mercantile world of the late medieval and early modern periods. The reason for their fascination can be ascribed to the wealth, cosmopolitism, social capital and political clout that many of these merchants (mostly men) projected onto...

"Hans Holbein's Triumphs (1532-1534), commissioned for the headquarters of the Hanseatic League in London and Kano Naizen's The Portuguese namban ('foreigners') painted in Japan in 1543 are representations of worlds of trade, where wealth, speculation, exploitation, poverty, curiosity,...

Beyond empires' explores the complexity of empire building from the point of view of self-organized networks, rather than from the point of view of the central state. This focus takes readers into a world of cooperative strategies worldwide that emphasises the role played by individuals, rather...

Intro -- Beyond Empires: Global, Self-Organizing, Cross-Imperial Networks, 1500-1800 -- Copyright -- Contents -- General Editor's Foreword -- List of Figures and Tables -- List of Contributors -- Introduction -- 1: The Evolution of Norms in Trade and Financial Networks in the First Global Age:...

Academics, politicians, and activists have taken up the study of globalisation in recent years. But the exchange of goods, services, and ideas, the formation of military and political relationships, and the migrations of people that are the hallmarks of the contemporary idea of what defines...

Although trade connects distant people and regions, bringing cultures closer together through the exchange of material goods and ideas, it has not always led to unity and harmony. From the era of the Crusades to the dawn of colonialism, exploitation and violence characterized many trading...