The 14 essays, revised and integrated for this volume, share as their common theme the development of the Atlantic economy, especially British America and the Caribbean. They first establish the strengths and weaknesses of the sources available for understanding that economy and then exhibit by example how such materials can be put to use to analyze some of its key elements. Topics treated range form early attempts in medieval England to measure the carrying capacity of ships, through the advent in Renaissance Italy and England of business newspapers that reported on the traffic of ships,...

Written by one of the leading authorities on trade and finance in the early modern Atlantic world, these fourteen essays, revised and integrated for this volume, share as their common theme the development of the Atlantic economy, especially British America and the Caribbean. Topics treated range from early attempts in medieval England to measure the carrying capacity of ships, through the advent in Renaissance Italy and England of business newspapers that reported on the traffic of ships, cargoes and market prices, to the state of the economy of France over the two hundred years before the...