What Happened to the East India Trading Company

In the belatedly 1500s, European explorers started sailing e for trading purposes. The Spanish and the Portugese were originally dominant on these new sailing routes, merely later the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 the British and Dutch were able to take more than of an active role in trade with the Eastward Indies. The Dutch initially took a pb in this, focusing mainly on spices and in particular the trade of peppercorns.

Concerned that the English were falling backside to the Dutch on these new trading routes, on the 31st December 1600 Queen Elizabeth I granted over 200 English merchants the right to trade in the Eastward Indies. One of these groups of merchants called themselves Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, later to get simply The East Bharat Company.

As the proper noun suggests, the Company's humble origins was equally a small group of investors and businessmen looking to capitalise on these new trading opportunities. Their first expedition left for Asia in 1601 with four ships commanded past James Lancaster (pictured to the right). The trek returned two years later with a cargo of pepper weighing almost 500 tons! James Lancaster was duly knighted for his service.

Although these initial voyages turned out to be extremely profitable for the shareholders, increased competition in the mid-1600s fabricated trading much more than difficult. Wars, pirates and lower profit margins forced the Company to grow into new markets where competition was less trigger-happy. It was during this time that the Company also decided that it could not compete with the more than powerful Dutch Eastward India Company in the trading of spices, so instead turned its attention to cotton wool and silk from India.

This strategy appeared to pay off, every bit by the 1700s the Company had grown so large that it had come to dominate the global cloth trade, and had fifty-fifty amassed its own army in guild to protect its interests. Most of the forces were based at the iii main 'stations' in Bharat, at Madras, Bombay and Bengal.

Although the forces of the East India Company were at first just concerned with protecting the direct interests of the Company, this was to change with the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Faced with a local uprising led past Siraj ud-Daula (with some French assistance!), the Company's army led by Robert Clive rapidly defeated the insurgents. Withal, this was to be a turning indicate for the Company and the following years saw it accept full administrative powers over its territories, including the correct to tax anyone living within its boundaries.

Although the 1600s and early 1700s saw the East Republic of india Company primarily focused on the merchandise of textiles, past the mid 18th century the Company'due south trading patterns began to change. The reasons for this were two-fold.

Firstly, the industrial revolution had changed the way that the Company dealt with the textiles trade. Prior to this, highly skilled weavers were employed in India to make cottons and silks by hand. These light, colourful and easy to vesture garments were popular amongst the fashionistas and upper classes of Britain.

By the time of the Industrial Revolution, U.k. had started producing these garments in its own factories, dramatically lowering prices (due to mass production) and bringing the fashions into the reach of the middle classes.

The 2nd reason for this modify in trading patterns was the growing want in Europe for Chinese tea. This was a potentially massive market for the Visitor, simply was held dorsum by the fact that the Chinese only traded their tea for silver. Unfortunately Great britain was on the gilt standard at the time, and had to import silver from continental Europe, making the whole tea trade financially unviable.

The East Bharat Company didn't really own many of the ships in its armada. It rented them from private companies, many of which were based at Blackwall in East London. The picture show above is of Mr Perry'due south Grand, which likewise congenital ships for the British navy.

And so how did the East Bharat Company make its fortune in Chinese tea?

In short, through illegal drugs! The Company started encouraging opium product in its Indian territories, which it then gave to individual merchants (heavily taxed, of grade) to be sold to China. The tax revenues from this funded much of the Company's assisting tea business.

Unfortunately this broke Chinese law, although information technology was tolerated by the authorities for a good 50 years until the trade balance vicious to such a point that the Chinese could not beget to let it go on. This came to a caput in 1839 when the Chinese demanded that all opium stock exist handed over to its government for destruction. This ultimately led to the Opium Wars.

"…in that location is a class of evil foreigner that makes opium and brings it for auction, tempting fools to destroy themselves, merely in gild to reap a turn a profit."
Commmissioner Lin Zexu, 1839

The Nemesis, an East Republic of india Visitor warship, destroying Chinese vessels during the First Opium State of war

At the same time as the Opium Wars, the Company started witnessing an increasing amount of rebellion and insurgence from its Indian territories. There were many reasons for this insurgency, and the Company's rapid expansion through the sub-continent during the 18th and early on 19th century had not helped matters.

The rebels, many of whom were the Indian troops within the Company's army (which at this fourth dimension was over 200,000 men strong, with effectually eighty% of the strength made up of Indian recruits) caught their employers off guard and succeeded in killing many British soldiers, civilians and Indians loyal to the Company. In retaliation for this uprising, the Company killed thousands of Indians, both insubordinate combatants equally well as a large number of civilians perceived to exist sympathetic to the insurgence. This was the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

British troops retaking the city of Delhi, 1857

"Information technology was literally murder… I have seen many bloody and awful sights lately but such a one as I witnessed yesterday I pray I never run into again. The women were all spared but their screams on seeing their husbands and sons butchered, were most painful… Heaven knows I feel no pity, simply when some old grey bearded man is brought and shot before your very eyes, hard must be that man's heart I think who tin can look on with indifference…"

Edward Vibart, 19 yr old British officeholder

The Indian Rebellion was to be the end of the E India Company. In the wake of this bloody insurgence, the British government effectively abolished the Company in 1858. All of its administrative and taxing powers, along with its possessions and armed forces, were taken over by the Crown. This was the offset of the British Raj, a period of direct British colonial rule over India which continued until independence in 1947.

Information technology accomplished a work such equally in the whole history of the human race no other Visitor ever attempted and as such, is e'er likely to attempt in the years to come.
The Times, second January 1874

Published: 26th March 2015

meltonshaden1962.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-East-India-Company/

Share this post