Kinship and partnership united Elie and Harry Susman when they crossed the Zambezi from the south in 1901 and travelled north to buy cattle from King Lewanika in Barotseland. The result was a remarkable family business, Susman Brothers and Wulfsohn, that has flourished for over a century in some of the most logistically difficult, physically challenging and politically problematic environments in the world. An African Trading Empire is a unique diaspora story set against the backdrop of the great themes of European and African history from the Jewish persecution in Europe through colonial Africa to the triumph of African nationalism and decolonization.