Using Network Analysis on Oldenburg Merchants going to China

Fregat FREDENSBORG SLOT - kinafarer - Asiatisk Kompagni. Bygget i København 1763-64. Efter gouache af Clement Mogensen Clementsen, ca. 1765.  -

The Chinaman FREDENSBORG SLOT from the Danish Asiatic Company. Built in Copenhagen 1763-64. From gouache by Clement Mogensen Clementsen, about 1765. Photo: Maritime Museum of Denmark.

For the last several months have been sending in homework every tenth day for an interesting PhD-course in Social Network Analysis.

Next week I am going to attend the course  in France, and I have just finished the last assignment, which used my own data, so I thought I would share the results here.

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The Qualities of an Honest Merchant by Count Otto Thott, 1735

Count Otto Thott - photo: Wikipedia via the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle

In 1735, the young Danish nobleman Count Otto Thott wrote a report, a so-called promemoria, about the economic status and challenges of the Oldenburg Monarchy, especially Denmark and Norway.

Titled Allerunderdanigste uforgribelige Tanker om Commerciens Telstand og Opkomst or “Most humble and personal thoughts about the condition and growth of business”, the report gives an overview of the state of farming, of production and of trade in Denmark and Norway, along with several recommendations for improvement.

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