Merchant kings when companies ruled the world, 1600-1900

"Commerce meets conquest in this swashbuckling story of the six merchant-adventurers who built the modern world, as told by Steven Bown, Canada's Simon Winchester." -Globe and Mail
Through the Age of Heroic Commerce, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, a rogue's gallery of larger-than-life merchant kings ruled vast tracts of the globe and expanded their far-flung monopolies to generate revenue for their shareholders, feather their own nests and satisfy their vanity and curiosity. Their exploits changed the world during an age of unfettered globalization, mirroring a world we know today.
Merchant Kings looks at each ruling monopoly through its greatest merchant king and considers their stories together for the first time.