Hubert Howe Bancroft's 10-volume BOOK OF WEALTH explores the origins and influence of wealth, from the earliest civilizations to the dawn of the Twentieth Century. The books offer an in-depth look at the history of economics and finance relative to the history of the human race, and include Bancroft's extraordinary insights into the psychology of economic exchange as he examines the individuals, organizations and nations that have attained great wealth. In Book Six, Bancroft details the history of Great Britain - once just another Roman province - and how it became an empire circling the globe; the continent of Africa, exploited by all comers for its vast mineral wealth, with large numbers of its population sold into slavery; Australia, home to prison colonies established at the end of the 18th century, later a source of gold, mineral and livestock riches; and the Hawaiian Islands, falling under foreign domination in the guise of a protectorate due to its strategic location and lush agriculture.