This volume brings together an international team of scholars who examine the development of commercial networks in Asia from the 18th century to the 20th century on a stage that stretches from Yokohama and Pusan to Istanbul. The studies, based on extensive archival research, focus on the trading firms and merchant groups that were the chief actors in the creation of the commercial networks that crisscrossed Asia, linking the various Asian economies to each other and to Europe and the Americas. While some of this work has been available in Japanese, Chinese and Dutch, this is the first...