I det 17. og 18. århundrede fungerede London som økonomisk centrum for al handel i det Britiske Imperium. I denne periode var der bl.a. meget tætte bånd mellem den indiske by Madras og London. I bogen undersøger Søren Mentz, hvorledes det lykkedes for de ansatte i det engelske East India Company at drive en omfattende og meget konkurrencedygtig privathandel med England på trods af kompagniets monopol. Mentz påviser bl.a., hvorledes de handlende brugte engelsk kapital til at bygge Madras op til et succesrigt handelscenter. Forfatteren behandler her et hidtil uudforsket område at det Britiske Imperiums historie og viser hvordan dette særlige private handelssamarbejde kunne fungere i kraft af nogle forskellige sociale og kulturelle faktorer.

Søren Mentz er ph.d. i historie fra Københavns Universitet. Han har desuden studeret ved The Delhi School of Economics og har under sit arbejde med bogen besøgt lokale arkiver i både Indien og Storbritannien. I dag er han museumsinspektør på Det Nationalhistoriske Museum på Frederiksborg Slot.

English
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, servants in the East India Company established a private English trading network that was successful and highly competitive. How was this development maintained seeing that the group of private merchants was constantly changing? The answer must be found in the close ties connecting Madras with the City of London. London was the financial centre of the British Empire as well as the generator of overseas expansion. Colonial societies in the West Indies and North America were economically and socially dependent upon the metropolis and so was Madras. This book places the activities of the private merchants in Madras within the framework of the first British Empire. It focuses on a hitherto neglected field of study, uncovering a private trading network, a diaspora, built on gentlemanly capitalism, trust and ethnicity.

Søren Mentz has a PhD in history from the University of Copenhagen. He has been a casual research student at the Delhi School of Economics and has visited local archives in India as well as in Great Britain. His articles have been published in Indian Economic and Social History Review and Itinerario. Currently, he is curator at Frederiksborgmuseet, The National Historical Museum at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark.