Rivalry for Trade in Tea and Textiles - (Europe's Asian Centuries) by Chris Nierstrasz (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The rivalry for trade in tea and textiles between the English and Dutch East India companies is very much a global history. This trade is strongly connected to emblematic events such as the opening of Western trade with China, the Boston Tea Party, the establishment of British Empire in Bengal and the Industrial Revolution.

Review Quotes

"It does adopt important and influential ideas from historians of consumption to explore the growing demand for items such as tea and textiles in eighteenth-century Europe. ... Ultimately, the narrative power and the interpretative possibilities offered by the single, individual company are strong and will always remain attractive to scholars, students and general readers. ... Rivalry for Trade in Tea and Textiles reminds us of the importance of the cornucopia of commodities imported by Europe's East India companies." (John McAleer, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 28 (3), August, 2016)

About the Author

Chris Nierstrasz, Lecturer at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, is the author of In the Shadow of the Company: The Dutch East India Company and its Servants in the Period of its Decline (1740-1796) (2012). He has also contributed to the editing of Goods from the East, 1600-1800 (2015) for the Europe's Asian Centuries project.