Galway Merchants in the Early Modern World

From the earliest settlement of the Norman soldiers and merchants, Galway built on its' French relations and, indeed, families. These merchants set themselves to building a commodity of commerce and the means to further prepare it for market. They used their families and marriages to create a network of trained reliable workers. From the planting, to the winnowing and grinding, to ship owning, insuring, sailing as cargo agents, and as purchasers they extended this network from Ireland to the European continent to the Caribbean to Atlantic American colonies. Throughout a period scarred by two English wars (James I, Charles I, Cromwell, and Charles II) they displayed creativity in retaining all the means of their wealth from within and without Ireland.