A Sketch Of The History Of The East India Company

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This book employs a wide range of perspectives to demonstrate how the East India Company facilitated cross-cultural interactions between the English and various groups in South Asia between 1600 to 1857 and how these interactions transformed important features of both British and South Asian history. Rather than viewing the Company as an organization projecting its authority from London to India, the volume shows how the Company’s history and its broader historical significance can best be understood by appreciating the myriad ways in which these interactions shaped the Company’s story and altered the course of history. Bringing together the latest research and several case studies, the work includes examinations of the formulation of economic theory, the development of corporate strategy, the mechanics of state finance, the mapping of maritime jurisdiction, the government and practice of religions, domesticity, travel, diplomacy, state formation, art, gift-giving, incarceration, and rebellion. Together, the essays will advance the understanding of the peculiarly corporate features of cross-cultural engagement during a crucial early phase of globalization. Insightful and lucid, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of modern history, South Asian studies, economic history, and political studies.

This is the first short history of the East India Company from its founding in 1600 to its demise in 1857, designed for students and academics. The Company was central to the growth of the British Empire in India, to the development of overseas trade, and to the rise of shareholder capitalism, so this survey will be essential reading for imperial and economic historians and historians of Asia alike. It stresses the neglected early years of the Company, and its intimate relationship with (and impact upon) the domestic British scene.

In existence for 258 years, the English East India Company ran a complex, highly integrated global trading network. It supplied the tea for the Boston Tea Party, the cotton textiles used to purchase slaves in Africa, and the opium for China’s nineteenth-century addiction. In India it expanded from a few small coastal settlements to govern territories that far exceeded the British Isles in extent and population. It minted coins in its name, established law courts and prisons, and prosecuted wars with one of the world’s largest armies. Over time, the Company developed a pronounced and aggressive colonialism that laid the foundation for Britain’s Eastern empire. A study of the Company, therefore, is a study of the rise of the modern world. In clear, engaging prose, Ian Barrow sets the rise and fall of the Company into political, economic, and cultural contexts and explains how and why the Company was transformed from a maritime trading entity into a territorial colonial state. Excerpts from eighteen primary documents illustrate the main themes and ideas discussed in the text. Maps, illustrations, a glossary, and a chronology are also included.

★ The East India Company ★Founded at the dawn of the seventeenth century as European nations were establishing global empires, the English East India Company would become a vital part of burgeoning British supremacy. Begun as a joint-stock company for trade with the East Indies, this organization would evolve into one of the world's first capitalistic corporations. Inside you will read about...✓ The English in the Atlantic Era and the Founding of the East India Company ✓ The 17th Century: Struggling, Building, and Growing with Violence ✓ The East India Company Enters the 18th Century ✓ The British Government Steps In ✓ China and the Opium Trade ✓ Growing British Involvement in the 19th Century ✓ The End of the East India Company And much more! Over the course of their 250+ years, the East India Company had built a global trading empire, raised an army and waged war, and conquered vast territory, including the entire subcontinent of India. Without their involvement, the British presence in India would look very different in the historical record. Though the company was dissolved by 1874, their influence on world history cannot be overstated. Series Information: The East India Companies Book 1

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