It was one of the most powerful
and influential company in the world. An agent of commerce and imperialism of
the British Empire, explore the history of the British East India Company.
Origins and Early Years
In the 16th century, trade with
Asia was dominated by the Iberian countries of Spain and Portugal whose
explorations brought them enormous wealth and lands. Europeans paid large
amount of money for goods coming from the Far East, mostly spices which give
taste and preservation to food. The rise of the Ottoman Turks prevented the use
of the traditional Silk Route to deliver these expensive spices to Europe. With
the existing religious hostility between Christian Europe and Muslim Turks, the
pious and brave Spanish and Portuguese explored new routes and stumbled upon
the New World, a westward passage to Asia, and Cape of Good Hope. Spain and
Portugal rose to prominence divided the spoils of their projects with the
Pope-mediated Treaty of Tordesillas giving Spain lands to the west and Portugal
lands to the east.
In all of this development,
England stood as a mere second rate country until the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
War between England and Spain characterized her reign with the defeat of the
Spanish armada by the English as the zenith. As a Protestant and as an
adversary of Spain, she disregarded the Treaty of Tordesillas and challenged
Spain and Portugal (then joint ruled by a same monarch) in the Far East Trade.
Instead of relying to hostile countries for exotic goods and cashing in to the
hugely profitable trade came the English East India Company.
Queen Elizabeth Portrait Commemorating the 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada |
On December 31, 1600 Queen
Elizabeth signed the charter of the Governor and Company of Merchants of London
Trading into the East Indies giving them the sole right over trade of goods
coming from east of the Cape of Good Hope and the west of the Straits of
Magellan. The Charter provided a capital of £ 72,000 for a 15-year term to 125
shareholders.
Initially, shareholders financed
separate voyages, but after 1612 the need of maintaining factories in India led
to its transformation to a joint-stock company.
Starting from scratch, it took
years before the Company’s ships reach India in 1608 and landed in Surat. In
1611 it established its first trading post in Machlipattanam creating a
commercial foothold in the wealthy subcontinent. In 1612, it established a
trading post in Surat, amidst Portuguese opposition, followed by another in
Madras in 1641 and Calcutta in 1699. The Company then started to send cotton,
silk, indigo, and saltpeter back to England.
Emperor Jahangir |
It also established relations
with the powerful Princes, especially the powerful Mughal Empire. In 1615, Sir
Thomas Roe visited the Mughal Court and granted an audience with then Emperor
Jahangir. The audience went well and gave the Company approval to establish a
textile manufactory in Surat. From this first concession more followed that
expanded the Company’s wealth and influence.
The Company’s army first began in
1662 as security personnel for its facilities. In 1668 it began to recruit
native Indians as soldiers becoming known as Sepoys to supplement its
mercenaries. Later on, the might of its army grew along with it.
Management and Organization
The 1600 Charter stipulated that
the company to be managed by a court of 24 directors. The 24 directors formed
different committees that tackled different aspects of the Company’s
operations. The directors were annually elected by the Court of Proprietors or
Shareholders, an early version of shareholders’ meeting. Later with Parliament’s
intervention, the management of the company changed.
Relation with Portuguese and the Dutch
King Charles II |
By engaging in trade in the East
Indies, the English Company faced serious competition and suspicion from the
Portuguese and the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). Relations with the
Portuguese initially started with hostility as the English fought for a
foothold in India. In fact, in 1612 the English had to fight the Portuguese to
secure a factory in the commercial center of Surat. Eventually the Portuguese
wealth and power weakened due to financial mishandling and so was their
position in India. When Charles II of England married Princess Catherine of
Braganza of Portugal, part of the dowry of the Portuguese to the English was
Bombay, which in a Royal Charter on March 27, 1668 was transferred to the
English East India Company - its first territory to rule over. Portuguese
influence in India continued to diminish until its presence became small to be
deemed marginal, mostly centered in the city of Goa.
Tenuous relations also developed
with the Dutch East India Company, but both of their respective governments
hoped for cooperation in the Far East. The English wanted a share of the spice
trade in the Indonesian Archipelago to which the Dutch refused to share.
Skirmishes between the 2 companies flared up.
Worst any hope of cooperation,
however, died with the news of Amboyna Massacre in 1623 that infuriated London.
The massacre came as a result of the Dutch Governor’s suspicion of English,
Japanese, and Portuguese plotting to kill him and seize his fort. He ordered
the arrest and torture of the foreigners until they confessed to the alleged
plot and finally sentenced them to death. Tensions only settled when Oliver
Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, exacted compensation from the Dutch.
The incident made the English
realize that the Spice Islands and surrounding archipelago belonged to the
Dutch and decided to concentrate their efforts to India.
See also:
Bibliography:
Websites:
“East
India Company.” In 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Wikisource. Accessed on April
30, 2017. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/East_India_Company
Editors
of Encyclopedia Britannica. “East India Company.” In Encyclopedia Britannica.
Accessed on April 23, 2017. URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company
Encyclopedia and Books:
“East
India Company.” In The Victorians at War, 1815-1914: An Encyclopedia of British
Military History. Edited by Harold Raugh. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO,
2004.
“East
India Company.” In Encyclopedia of The Enlightenement. By Ellen Judy Wilson and
Peter Hanns Reill. New York, New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004.
Lewis,
Dianne. “East India Company, English.” In Southeast Asia: A Historical
Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor. Edited by Ooi Keat Gin. Santa
Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Kulke,
Hermann & Dietmar Rothermund. A History of India. New York, New York:
Routledge, 2004.
Murphy,
John Jr. “British East India Company.” In Encyclopedia of World History v. 4.
Edited by Marsha Ackermann et. al. New York, New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2008.
Stein,
Burton. A History of India. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd., 2010.
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