Small Is Beautiful?: Interlopers and Smaller Trading Nations in the Pre-industrial Period. Proceedings of the Xvth World Economic History Congress in Utrecht (Netherlands)

Interlopers played a significant role in Early Modern world trade. The eighteenth century was a case in point; re-exports of colonial goods such as tobacco, sugar, tea and coffee increased dramatically after 1740. Originally dominated by the Dutch, these activities were increasingly taken over by the English after 1720 - at least, according to the textbooks. But what about the smaller players on the world trade scene? It can be shown that during the eighteenth century, interloper nations such as Scotland, Denmark-Norway and Sweden effectively carved themselves out a piece of the action. This pattern was not limited to the Atlantic economy, but could be found on the continent as well. The essays in the present volume provide a wide range of case studies addressing such topics as the macro-economic, social, institutional and political circumstances behind interloping in the pre-industrial period.

Markus A. Denzel, geb. 1967, seit 2002 Ordinarius fur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte an der Universitat Leipzig. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Internationale Handels- und Finanzgeschichte der vorindustriellen Zeit, Messen-, Banken- und Borsengeschichte vor 1914 Philipp R. Rossner, geb. 1977, Studium der Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, Mittleren und Neueren Geschichte, Soziologie in Gottingen und Edinburgh (Schottland). 1996-2002: Promotion zum Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Economic History, University of Edinburgh 2007. Ab 2007: Wissenschaftlicher Assistent am Historischen Seminar der Universitat Leipzig. 2011: Habilitation fur Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte. Derzeit tatig an der Universitat Leipzig und als Lecturer in Early Modern History an der University of Manchester (UK). Forschungsschwerpunkte: Fruhneuzeitliche Wirtschafts- und Handelsgeschichte Grossbritanniens und Preussens im 18. Jahrhundert sowie Wahrungsgeschichte des Reiches um 1500.