Description
Book SynopsisBeyond 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 than institutions, in the overseas expansion and consequent development of European empires. While unveiling the practices and mechanisms of cooperation between individuals, this volume show cases the role played by individuals for the creation, development and maintenance of self-organized networks in the Early Modern period. Applying new conceptual and theoretical inputs, this book values the contributions of different ‘worlds’, bringing to the fore the interactions of Europeans and non-Europeans, Christians and non-Christians, people living within-, on- or just outside the border of empire.
Trade Review"This is an impressive collection of essays that in the strength and coherence of its individual contributions succeeds in making a persuasive case. [...] this is a collection to be recommended for a wide audience. Unlike many volumes of this kind, it succeeds in advancing a clear argument and the editors are to be thanked for bringing together such an illuminating set of essays." - Adam Clulow, in: The International Journal of Maritime History, 29:4 (2017), pp. 927-929 "Beyond Empires succeeds in constructing a history of unofficial global networks and informal commercial activities in the early modern period. Cátia A.P. Antunes and Amelia Polónia argue that ‘this informal empire that was brought to fruition by the individual choices of free agents and their networks as a reaction to state-imposed monopolies was … a borderless, selforganized, often cross-cultural, multi-ethnic, pluri-national and stateless world that can only be characterized as global’ (10). This collective volume offers fresh evidence on private entrepreneurs, merchant families, and mercantile" - Brian Sanberg, in: Itinerario, 41:3 (2017), pp. 636-638 [DOI:10.1017/S016511531700081X] "[This] volume contains numerous valuable and fascinating insights into the transnational and trans-imperial operations of informal commercial networks. However, while this empirical richness alone makes the volume a worthwhile read, by far its greatest achievement is the formulation of an analytical framework for the analysis of transnational networks." - Felicia Gottmann, in: Journal of World History, 29:4 (2018), pp. 574-584 [DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2018.0058]
Table of ContentsGeneral Editor’s Foreword ... vii List of Figures and Tables ... x List of Contributors ... xii Introduction ... 1 Cátia Antunes and Amélia Polónia 1 The Evolution of Norms in Trade and Financial Networks in the First Global Age: The Case of the Simon Ruiz’s Network 12 Ana Sofia Ribeiro 2 Trans-Imperial and Cross-Cultural Networks for the Slave Trade, 1580s–1800s ... 41 Filipa Ribeiro da Silva 3 Dutch and English Approaches to Cross-Cultural Trade in Mughal India and the Problem of Trust, 1600–1630 ... 69 Guido van Meersbergen 4 ‘The Japanese Connection’: Self-Organized Smuggling Networks in Nagasaki circa 1666–1742 ... 88 Jurre Knoest 5 The Pirate Round: Globalized Sea Robbery and Self-Organizing Trans-Maritime Networks around 1700 ... 138 Michael Kempe 6 Merchant Cooperation in Society and State: A Case Study in the Hispanic Monarchy ... 160 Ana Crespo Solana 7 In the Shadow of the Companies: Empires of Trade in the Orient and Informal Entrepreneurship ... 188 Chris Nierstrasz 8 Smuggling for Survival: Self-Organized, Cross-Imperial Colony Building in Essequibo and Demerara, 1746–1796 ... 212 Bram Hoonhout 9 Trading with Asia without a Colonial Empire in Asia: Swedish Merchant Networks and Chartered Company Trade, 1760–1790 ... 236 Leos Müller 10 Was Warfare Necessary for the Functioning of Eighteenth-Century Colonial Systems? Some Reflections on the Necessity of Cross-Imperial and Foreign Trade in the French Case ... 253 Silvia Marzagalli Epilogue ... 278 Cátia Antunes and Amélia Polónia Bibliography ... 281 Index ... 300
