Private Enterprise and the China Trade : : Merchants and Markets in Europe, 1700-1750 / / Meike von Brescius.

• Superior document: Library of Economic History Series ; Volume 16
• VerfasserIn: Brescius, Meike von,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands : : Koninklijke Brill nv,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Library of economic history ; Volume 16.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (275 pages)

"This book examines the European commercial landscape of the early China trade, c.1700-1750. It looks at the foundational period of Sino-European commerce and explores a world of private enterprise beneath the surface of the official East India Company structures. Using rich private trade records, it analyses the making of pan-European markets, distribution networks and patterns of investment that together reveal a new geography of a trading system previously studied mostly at Canton. By considering the interloping activities of British-born merchants working for the smaller East India Companies, the book uncovers the commercial practices and cross-Company collaborations, both legal and illicit, that sustained the growth of the China trade: smuggling, wholesale trading, private commissions and the manipulation of Company auctions"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Figures and Tables -- Introduction: Contextualising the Early China Trade in Europe -- 1 Commercial Polymaths: Supercargoes and Interlopers in the China Trade -- 2 Trading Conditions in Canton -- 3 Private Trade and Monopoly Structures: A Network Perspective -- 4 The Archives of Private Trade: How to Assess the (In)visible -- 5 Source Material -- 6 Structure of the Study -- Chapter 1 British Interlopers in the Canton Trade: A Group Portrait -- 1 Charles Irvine: Canton Supercargo, Wholesale Trader, Family Patron -- 2 Irvine's Wider Network -- 3 Ways into the China Trade -- 4 New Companies and Old India Traders: The Demise of the Ostend and the Rise of the Swedish East India Company -- 5 Britons Abroad, Interlopers at Home: Transnational Careers in the Making -- 6 Flexible Citizens: Nomads of the Canton Trade -- Chapter 2 Forging Markets: The European Re-Export Trade in Chinese Goods -- 1 Private Trade: Regulations and Realities -- 2 The Companies' Profits from Private Trade -- 3 Public Sales, Private Agreements -- 4 The Re-Export Trade -- Chapter 3 Treasures in the Cabin: Chinese Export Wares and the Special Commissions Trade -- 1 Chinese Export Wares and the Market for Private Commissions -- 2 Typology of Commissioners in the China Trade -- 3 Families and Consumers Associated with the East India Companies -- 4 Commanders and Supercargoes as Consumers, Suppliers and Entrepreneurs -- 5 Designs Made for Maritime Mobility -- 6 Making Room for Private Trade -- Chapter 4 European Geographies of Private Trade: Cadiz as a Cross-Company Hub -- 1 Port Cities, Merchant Communities and the Study of Networks -- 2 The Vanguards -- 3 Flows of Silver from a Network Perspective -- 4 The Cadiz Merchant Community and the China Trade -- 5 Cadiz as an Entrepôt.

6 Company Recruitments and Passenger Traffic to China -- 7 Financing the Private Trade -- 8 Sea Loans and the Cross-Company Money Market -- 9 Entangled Cities of the China Trade: Cadiz, Antwerp and Amsterdam -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Manuscript Sources -- Europe -- United States -- Printed Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources -- Digital Resources -- Index.