Overview
- Explores the relationship between French and German commercial competition, collaboration and imperial interests in the South China Sea
- Offers an in-depth archival study of the Tonkin Shipping Company, an affiliate of the French company Marty et d’Abbadie, and its main competitor, the German M. Jebsen Shipping Company
- Investigates the connections between French and German policymakers, European ship owners, Vietnamese sailors and Chinese merchants, against the backdrop of imperial Germany’s rising industrial power
Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies (CIPCSS)
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About this book
This book explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean’ was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“Becker’s analysis is well documented. Each chapter includes an extensive bibliography and detailed references to archival sources. … At the macro level, this book is a careful and detailed assessment of ‘open economy growth’ based on the development of intensive trade links between Europe and Indochina … . It also explores the commercial and maritime consequences … Asian ventures. At the micro level, it convincingly emphasizes the role of French and German merchants and companies in this ‘great powers’ competition.” (Hubert Bonin, EH Net, eh.net, July, 2022)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bert Becker is Associate Professor in Modern European History at the University of Hong Kong. He has written prize-winning biographies on Georg Michaelis, the German chancellor of 1917, and Michael Jebsen, shipowner and politician in Imperial Germany. His research interests include the maritime and business histories of Hong Kong, China and Vietnam
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930
Book Subtitle: Maritime competition and Imperial Power
Authors: Bert Becker
Series Title: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52604-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52603-0Published: 03 July 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52606-1Published: 03 July 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-52604-7Published: 02 July 2021
Series ISSN: 2635-1633
Series E-ISSN: 2635-1641
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 484
Number of Illustrations: 10 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Imperialism and Colonialism, History of Southeast Asia, World History, Global and Transnational History, Economic History