Although the authorities, eager to restore a semblance of normality, have encouraged merchants to return to business, Palestinian nationalists today renewed calls for a general strike.

The area between these centres remained rural, however, the arrival of the railway in 1881 encouraged affluent merchants from Manchester to build villas and move to the town.

Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols.

The district, he said, had encouraged merchants to keep later hours "to capture a market they don't have now."

The goal, she said, was to encourage officials and merchants to make public buildings and private businesses more accessible to the disabled.

They also encouraged foreign merchants to travel to China and import goods, and built numerous hotels to house them.

The embargo encouraged British merchants to aggressively seek out new markets and to engage in smuggling with continental Europe.

To encourage merchants and artists who could not otherwise afford to advertise in such a publication, Mr. Hall says he offered full-page color ads for $2,500.

He encouraged craftsmen and merchants to set up businesses at Mohammadpur and soon it became a thriving metropolis abuzz with trade and commerce.

He also encouraged Russian merchants to develop trade in the port.