Agents of European overseas empires

<i>Agents of European overseas empires</i> involves contributors who specialise on often overlooked aspects of imperial endeavour: 'private' European interests companies merchants or courtiers who conducted their own activities both with and without the benediction of polities. The chapters adopt intra- as well as inter-imperial perspectives and transport the reader to colonial America the West Indies the Cape of Good Hope Batavia or Ceylon through the Dutch English French and Spanish empires. <i>Agents of European overseas empires</i> offers crucial insight on how these actors acquired profits and power and in turn laid the platforms for European global empires.