WINNER OF THE 2023 RALPH GOMORY BOOK PRIZE
 
“A superb book.”—Jerry Brotton
 
“Wonderfully wide-ranging and deeply-researched.”—William Dalrymple
 
“Sharply observed, innovatively analysed, and always accessible.”—Nandini Das
 
A new history of English trade and empire—revealing how a tightly woven community of merchants was the true origin of globalized Britain
 
In the century following Elizabeth I’s rise to the throne, English trade blossomed as thousands of merchants launched ventures across the globe. Through the efforts of these "mere merchants," England developed from a peripheral power on the fringes of Europe to a country at the center of a global commercial web, with interests stretching from Virginia to Ahmadabad and Arkhangelsk to Benin.
 
Edmond Smith traces the lives of English merchants from their earliest steps into business to the heights of their successes. Smith unpicks their behavior, relationships, and experiences, from exporting wool to Russia, importing exotic luxuries from India, and building plantations in America. They reveal that the origins of "global" Britain are found in the stories of these men whose livelihoods depended on their skills, entrepreneurship, and ability to work together to compete in cutthroat international markets. As a community, their efforts would come to revolutionize Britain’s relationship with the world.