Robert Bennet Forbes (1804-1889) : a china trader between two worlds

This thesis examines a portion of the professional career of Robert Bennet Forbes, an American China trader, in the American-Chinese trade from 1817 through 1845. Using primarily the writings of Forbes and the Forbes Papers, this thesis discusses Forbes' family background, his role in the transition from sail to steam, and his general historical setting in China and the United States. This thesis sheds new light on Chinese-American economic relations during a critically important time when America's economic role in China greatly increased and when modern maritime technology was introduced to American-Chinese trade. The central theme of this thesis is Forbes' important role in the two temporal worlds of tradition and modernity as well as in the two geographical worlds of China and the United States.