I would like to thank Dr. James Ciment, who recommended me to M.E. Sharpe as the editor for Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present. During the course of this project, many people have provided invaluable advice, assistance, and encouragement for which I am grateful. I offer a special thanks to Drs. Jerry Bentley, Alfred E. Eckes Jr., Patrick Manning, Steven C. Topik, and Spencer Tucker for serving on the board of advisers.
Throughout this entire endeavor, I have had the support of the Department of History at the University of Texas, Arlington. I would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Don Kyle, chair of the department, who arranged my teaching schedule so that I would have time to work on this project. Dr. Stephen Stillwell Jr. offered many helpful suggestions and information throughout the process. Others within the department graciously agreed to contribute to the work. I would like to thank the reference librarians at Southern Methodist University, the Dallas Public Library, the Fort Worth Public Library, and especially at the University of Texas, Arlington, where I took advantage of an extensive library collection to verify a multitude of details and locate primary source materials.
The efforts of the contributors made this work possible. The breadth of knowledge and the vast time span covered in the entries is truly impressive. I would like to express my profound gratitude to those contributors who completed the last few entries at the end of the project on such short notice.
To my family, a special thanks. They endured many days and nights without me so that this work could be finished on time.
Cynthia Clark Northrup