With the discovery of the rich mineral resources present in the countries of the Western hemisphere and the direct maritime route connecting the Atlantic regions of Europe and the East, especially India, an avenue opened up for the accumulation of capital by entrepreneurs. Businessmen motivated by large profits that could be reaped from the exchange of the metals like gold, silver and copper entered the mining industry. Those who had accumulated capital through small scale industries like weaving and short-haul trade made heavy investments in large scale industries like copper mining. Demands of trade between India and Europe provided a golden opportunity to these industrialists in finding markets for the outputs of their mines.

The growth of international trade covering far-flung regions of Europe, America and Asia gave rise to the development of financial arrangements through banking and issue of bills of exchange. Big merchants and industri¬alists, besides rulers, often required loans and provided ample opportunity to merchant-financiers interested in making capital out of the demands of international trade and commerce. The emergence of the Fuggers, historically a prominent group of European bankers belonging to a German family of merchants controlling even the elections to the Roman Empire, against the backdrop of the Portuguese trade with India during the sixteenth century is a case in point. This book deals with such cases and the maritime history of the regions and its influence on trade, politics and society.