Goods from the East 1600-1800 ─ Trading Eurasia

The imperative of the long-distance seaborne trade of Europeans, from the age of exploration, was to acquire the goods of the exotic East – the silks and porcelains and tea of China, the spices of the spice islands and the textiles of India. Goods from the East focuses on the trade in fine products: how they were made, marketed and distributed between Asia and Europe. This trade was conducted by East India Companies and many private traders, and the first Global Age that resulted deeply affected European consumption and manufacturing. This book provides a full comparative and connective study of Asia's trade with a range of European countries. Its themes relate closely to issues of fine manufacturing and luxury goods in the current age of globalization. Goods from the East brings together established scholars, such as Jan de Vries, Om Prakash and Josh Gommans, and a new generation of researchers, who together look into the connections between European consumer cultures and Asian trade.

Maxine Berg is Professor of History at the University of Warwick, UK, where she has taught since 1978. She is also a Fellow of the British Academy, Founder and Co-Director of the Global History and Culture Centre at Warwick, and was Senior Researcher for the European Research Council. Her recent books include Writing the History of the Global: Challenges for the Twenty-first Century (2013) and Luxury and Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century Britain (2005).