How many of the notorious East India Companies in modern times were there and to which countries
The following article comes from the history school, the author Erya
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"As long as there is 10 per cent of the profit, it will be used everywhere, 20 per cent will be lively, 50 per cent will give rise to positive risk-taking, 100 per cent will make people defy all laws, and 300 per cent will make people not afraid of crime or even the danger of hanging their heads. If unrest and strife bring profits, it encourages them. This passage is Marx's quotation of the English critic Dunninger in Capital, and here it refers to capital, but it is also very applicable to exchange capital for the East India Company.
As a role that has left a strong mark in modern history, some people think that it refers to the British East India Company, and some people think that it is the Dutch East India Company, so which country is the notorious East India Company?
Above_ Flag of the British East India Company from 1600 to 1707
Above_ Flag of the British East India Company from 1707 to 1801
1. How many East India Companies were there?
The East India Company appeared to be a trading company, but in reality it was a semi-governmental commercial organization that was in fact plundering and colonizing under the guise of trade. In European history, there were seven East India Companies between the 17th and 19th centuries.
The earliest East India Company was the British East India Company, its full name was "London Merchants Trading Company in the East Indias", which was granted a royal warrant by Queen Elizabeth I at the time, and was established on December 31, 1600, while China was still in the reign of Zhu Yijun of Mingshenzong;
The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602;
The Danish East India Company was founded in 1616;
The Portuguese East India Company was founded in 1628;
The French East India Company was founded in 1664;
The Swedish East India Company was founded in 1731;
The Austrian East India Company was founded in 1775;
Italy and Germany were still in a state of fragmentation during the period when European countries were fighting for colonies, so they did not catch up with this wave of colonial dividends.
These East India Companies, which were established for plunder and colonization, had more or less the shadow of the government behind them, and they were authorized to monopolize trade after they were established, like blood-sucking leeches, dividing up the regions outside of Europe.
Christopher Columbus (September 22, 1452 – May 20, 1506) was an Italian explorer, colonist, and navigator
2. Why do they like to call it the East India Company?
Our history books introduce Columbus as an explorer who braved the odds to explore the world, and in fact Columbus, who discovered the "New World", was only a pioneer in overseas trade.
Did he use him to discover the New World? South America was already there, and the natives lived there well, and the so-called New World was just one more plundering place for the European countries.
In 1492, Columbus went to the West Indies in Central America, he thought that it was the legendary India, and later discovered the real India, in order to distinguish the Caribbean Islands of the Americas from India, the Europeans called the Americas the West Indies, and the real India was the East Indies, and even in the perception of Westerners, the East Indies not only included India but also Southeast Asia and East Asian countries.
These countries were the main places of European colonization and plunder in the 17th and 18th centuries, so the companies responsible for "overseas trade" in European countries were called the East India Company.
Above_ Batavia, the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century, with the island as seen from the sea at the bottom of the map
3. The road to hegemony of the various East India Companies
The British were the first to establish the East India Company, and it received strong support from the government.
The Dutch, the 17th-century maritime trade hegemon known as the "coachman of the sea", was not to be outdone by the British, and only two years later, in 1602, the Dutch East India Company was founded.
As the first two countries to establish the East India Company, Britain and the Netherlands gained great wealth through the East India Company in just a few years, which aroused the jealousy and jealousy of other European countries, and they followed the example of Britain to establish the East India Company, but the East India Company established later was not very successful.
Above_ Documentary of the visit of the Dutch East India Company delegation to China
The two East India Companies at the top of the pyramid were differentiated, with the Dutch East India Company being primarily engaged in commercial activities, with its main sphere of influence in the South Seas, today's Southeast Asia, and its governor in Batavia.
The British East India Company, on the other hand, was more involved in plundering and colonization, and was established in Calcutta, India, with its main sphere of influence in India, and later developed into a more powerful commercial empire than any modern commercial company, and almost a ruler in India.
Even if the main sphere of influence is different, but in order to compete for maritime supremacy, the two countries inevitably broke out into war, Britain provoked three wars against the Netherlands in the 17th century, the snipe and the clam competed for profit, France used their war to obtain a large number of colonies and overseas trade, and in the 18th century, Britain against the Netherlands in the fourth Anglo-Dutch war, the Netherlands lost, Britain completely replaced the Netherlands as the maritime hegemon, this war also indirectly led to the dissolution of the Dutch East India Company.
Above_ Dutch East India Company merchant marine
4. The demise of the East India Company
The East India Company in European countries was established at different times and in different states.
The longest-running was the British East India Company, which was dissolved in 1874 and existed for 274 years, crushing all the century-old enterprises that are now in existence.
The shortest-lived was the Portuguese East India Company, which was dissolved after only 5 years of existence, and the Austrian East India Company, which only existed for 10 years.
With the exception of Austria and Portugal, which were unsuccessful, the East India Company of other countries existed for a long time, and the benefits they received continue to benefit Western countries today.
But nothing lasts forever, and the once-prosperous East India Company was no exception.
Above_ The British East India Company's building in London
Above_ The British East India Company's opium storage warehouse in India, used for the opium trade in China
As the three most powerful countries of the East India Company, Britain, the Netherlands, and France eventually ushered in the demise of the East India Company.
In 1794, the French East India Company went bankrupt and was taken over by the French government after the double blow of the Franco-Dutch War and the French Revolution.
In 1799, the Dutch East India Company was dissolved due to a serious financial crisis due to the Anglo-Dutch War, which caused a significant drop in domestic consumption and consumer demand, which was insufficient to support the East India Company's overseas trade.
The behemoth - the British East India Company, in other countries of the East India Company died out nearly a hundred years later, only dissolved in 1874, its demise has many reasons, corporate governance in the increasingly serious embezzlement and corruption, by the growing anti-colonization movement in the colonies, the domestic industrial revolution brought about by the industrial capital to commercial capital suppression, so that the notorious East India Company was finally overwhelmed and announced its dissolution, it can be regarded as a very successful completion of the British government's "trust".
Above_ British East India Company trade routes
5. Influence on future generations
Although it is no longer in the rivers and lakes, the rivers and lakes still have their legends.
The blood-stained East India Company has been dead for a hundred years, but its shadow continues to shape the world afterward.
India, which was once colonized by the East Indies, has not yet completely solved the problem of food and clothing.
China, which was triggered by the Opium War caused by the East India Company's importation of opium, is still a developing country.
Countries such as Anglo-Dutch, French-Danish, and other countries, which had profited greatly from the East India Company, were transformed into highly developed and well-welfare "civilized nations", and their descendants were still overshadowed by the wealth they plundered.
In the long run, the highly monopolistic business model of the East India Company even affected the progress of global free trade.
Above_ Dutch East India Company Stocks
Of course, the East India Company is not completely useless in history, at least it has practiced the possibility of the joint-stock system as a form of company, and has also provided an example for modern enterprise management, and it can be said that the development of the modern enterprise system is absolutely inseparable from the case of the East India Company.
But in any case, this blood-stained company must be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, along with its country.
Resources:
[1] "A Treatise on the History of the British East India Company", Tadao Nishimura
[2] History of the Dutch East India Company
(This article only represents the author's point of view and does not represent the position of this number)