Mr. Smith Goes to China

An illuminating account of global commerce in the eighteenth-century Indian Ocean world as seen through the lives of three Scottish traders This book delves into the lives of three Scottish private tradersGeorge Smith of Bombay, George Smith of Canton, and George Smith of Madrasand uses them as lenses through which to explore the inner workings of Britains imperial expansion and global network of trade, revealing how an unstable credit system and a financial crisis ultimately led to greater British intervention in India and China.