This is a fascinating and lively account of the birth of globalisation in the sixteenth century. We often think of the past two centuries as the age of globalization. In fact, the genesis of globalization took place some 500 years ago with the pursuit of gold, silver, and copper in the 16th century, when empires were created and destroyed on their talent for finding, exploiting, and controlling huge volumes of mineral wealth. "Conquest, Tribute, and Trade" traces the roots of globalization through the story of how the closely related states of Portugal, Spain, and later the Dutch Republic were able to check the powerful Ottoman Empire, supersede the great Italian city-states, and overturn centuries of Muslim commercial domination in Africa and Asia. In the process they created the first multinational corporations, launched scores of boomtowns, squandered huge amounts of capital, discovered new worlds, and invented new technologies.
