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This paper examines the commercial migration and networking practices of German merchants from north German port towns and the textile regions of the hinterland. The focus will be on those merchants who settled in London. I argue that they contributed to turning London into the hub of global trade through their geographical networking strategies. The second part the paper analyses legal and social integration into the local commercial elite of London. I show that through membership of business and cultural institutions, intermarriages and godparenthood they created a European and cosmopolitan business elite that generated a framework of a common business culture, thus paving the way for the globalization of trade.

This paper examines the commercial migration and networking practices of German merchants from north German port towns and the textile regions of the hinterland. The focus will be on those merchants who settled in London. I argue that they contributed to turning London into the hub of global trade through their geographical networking strategies. The second part the paper analyses legal and social integration into the local commercial elite of London. I show that through membership of business and cultural institutions, intermarriages and godparenthood they created a European and cosmopolitan business elite that generated a framework of a common business culture, thus paving the way for the globalization of trade.