This essay examines science and information networks built by European scientists, often in connection with military and/or commercial enterprises and expeditions. It is focused on Europe's northern peripheral powers, particularly the empires, or post-empires, of Sweden and Denmark. Both Copenhagen and Stockholm/Uppsala served as brokerage centers for knowledge and commodified scientific objects. Both cities also had collections, academies, and other institutions that not only ordered northern Europe for science, but contributed significantly to ordering and mapping the world's natural systems so as to make them accessible for colonialism. Scientific travel is also analyzed here as an important part of the construction of value, both symbolic (collections, scientific prestige) and concrete (mercantilist import substitution).