Merchant Kings
Author | : Stephen R. Bown |
Publisher | : D & M Publishers |
Total Pages | : 338 |
Release | : 2009-12-01 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781553656494 |
ISBN-13 | : 1553656490 |
Rating | : 4/5 (490 Downloads) |
Download or read book Merchant Kings written by Stephen R. Bown and published by D & M Publishers. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Commerce meets conquest in this swashbuckling story of the six merchant-adventurers who built the modern world, as told by “Canada’s Simon Winchester” (Globe and Mail). Through the Age of Heroic Commerce, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, a rogue’s gallery of larger-than-life merchant kings ruled vast tracts of the globe and expanded their far-flung monopolies to generate revenue for their shareholders, feather their own nests and satisfy their vanity and curiosity. Their exploits changed the world during an age of unfettered globalization, mirroring a world we know today. Merchant Kings looks at each ruling monopoly through its greatest merchant king and considers their stories together for the first time: Jan Pieterszoon Coen of the Dutch East India Company Pieter Stuyvesant of the Dutch West India Company Robert Clive of the English East India Company Alexandr Baranov of the Russian-American Company George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company Cecil John Rhodes of the British South Africa Company