The East India Trading company was very corrupt and showed a lot of carelessness throughout its life. The East India trading company shared many similar values with the British empire back in the nineteenth century. The company seemed to be the empire’s own personal entity to carry out their wishes for imperialism. The company did this in two ways. The first way the East India company did this was their thirst for global domination. The second way was their poor treatment to native people.
Background
The East India Company began in December of 1600. The company went by several different names including: English East India Company, The John Company, etc. For the purpose of this paper I will abbreviate the name to the EIC. The EIC was originally supposed to be a company of merchants with the goal to explore the mysterious east. Specifically, they were to explore India. On December 31, 1600 the company received a charter boat from Queen Elizabeth, and this is where it all began. Britain and the EIC were interested in the commercial business aspect that India could potentially offer. They were specifically looking to trade silk, spices and other textiles (Stephens 2012).
Once they arrived in India they partnered with local chiefs and singed contracts for land opportunities and trade. Eventually, the EIC put up factories and shops in India. The company’s trading posts in India were overseen by their headquarters in London, England (Stephens 2012).
The EIC eventually developed into much more than just a commercial trading company. When the war between Britain and France spread to India, the company formed a military in order to protect their trading interests. The EIC established supremacy over their rival European trading companies. In 1757 the EIC ended up seizing control over the province of Bengal in India. This is the turning point where they shifted from company to a military group.
In 1784, the Mughal Emperor granted the EIC the right to harvest products from Bengal. With this backing from leaders in India the EIC was able to grow larger and gain more control over India. By this time, the EIC held more than half of the world’s economy of trade.
The company was growing extensively and had quite a bit of power in India and the world’s economy and Britain saw the issue. Growing concerns about the mismanagement and the corruption the British parliament decided to step in. Britain began to supervise and control the EIC. The company kept facing scrutiny, so Britain downsized the company and dissolved a lot of the company. Eventually in 1858 the company defunct, and all power was signed back over to the Indian Company.
This paper only encompasses EIC’s control in India, but it is fair to mention that the EIC had control in many different places such and Spain and they had a lot of trading control in the United States and plenty of other places.
Britain’s Use of the EIC
The East India Trading company had many questionable values. Britain in the ninetieth century had many questionable values as well. The two were very ethnocentric, they believed it was Britain’s way, or no way. In many ways, the EIC shared many values that even modern-day companies possess. The company has a rough value of 7.4 trillion dollars in today’s money. Like every large company, their main goal is profit and nothing will get in the way of that. Britain’s main goal was global dominance and in a sense profit through trade. The East India company was formed to create a route of trade through the east, but like I mention before they were also formed to pass along Britain’s values. This mentality is where the EIC ran into trouble and faced scrutiny. Through gaining so much power they could pretty much do as they wished. They would segregate themselves off from natives and treat the natives poorly. Britain also tended to segregate themselves from natives in new land. This segregation by the EIC lead to violence and paranoia of natives(Junkzelone 2002). There are also many examples of the EIC using slave labor for their business operations. Along with the use of slaves, the EIC was also involved in the salve trade. They used their ships and connections to transport slaves. Had the EIC treated locals well they might have not been looked down upon and in the end, they may have not defunct (Marguerite 1945).
Basically, what we can gather from the information above is that the East India Trading Company committed many similar acts as their homeland Britain. Now, the EIC was not necessarily told to commit these acts, however they seemed to learn from Britain’s past. This is why they are similar. The way EIC went about their business and treated the natives was very similar to what Britain either did in the past or was currently doing.
The East India Company got its start through a generous loan for Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth had a huge share in the company and more than likely knew of what they were doing. EIC was able to gain land from contracts signed by the Queen herself. The British Parliament used the EIC as bridge to other places in order to spread imperialism and Colonialization . The EIC was played a crucial role in the spread of imperialism.
The East India Company formed a military in order to protect their interests in India. The military consisted of around 67,000 members. Ironically many members were recruited out of the India population. The EIC recruited natives to protect their own interests and continue their power rein. Through having a military, the EIC sought to suppress any uprisings by the Indian people. The natives of India deeply hated the EIC, and the company was always scared of potential uprisings against them. Britain used this tactic as well, they would colonize new land and suppress the locals, so they could rebel against them (Morton 2002).
The East India Company was known for their mismanagement and their corruption. The company had way too much power over the world’s economy and way too much control over India. They were able to gain a lot of control through size and intimidation and empty promises to the local Indian government. The EIC showed on many different occasions that they are very similar to what Britain represented. The EIC treated natives poorly and segregated themselves and held their heads high. Britain used the EIC for their spread of colonialism in many ways. The EIC was able to reach new land and settle in and later gain control. In the end Britain realized their mistakes and took control away from the EIC, and eventually gave the power back to where it belonged in India’s hands. The EIC has gone down in history as a powerful cruel company stemming from Britain’s values.
References:
Henry, Ellis. “East India Question.” Archives.Org, 1830.
Morton, Thomas. “Raising Soldiers for India CO 77/26, Ff. 104-5.” National Archives, 2002.
“Junkzelone - What Vast Profit the Honourable Company May Make by Settling That Place' C 106/171, No.68 (c. 1700-19).” The National Archives, 2002.
Marguerite, Willber. “The East India Company.”Archive.Org, 1945.
STEPHENS, FREDERICK. “Washington State University.” Fall 2014 India in the Age of British Imperialism Final DHP Comments, Washington State University, 2012.
Photo
I think that you give a really good explanation of how the EIC worked and its relationships to figures of authority in Britain. It is well worth understanding how this company functioned as well as take into account the lasting effects it has even to today. I also really like how you examine its parallels to Imperial Britian as a whole by drawing on its treatment of various indignenous peoples and its lack of compassion for anyone other than themselves.
The story of the EIC is very interesting. The EIC is a group that is spoken about often in history. I think that you did a good job of showing the power that the EIC had especially over the native people. They created an army of over 60,000 which was largely made up of the native population who were fighting against there own self interest for the EIC. This was an excellent example of how you illustrated the power that the EIC had in India.
I enjoyed both your presentation and this history of the EIC. This study of the rise to power, corruption, and eventual downfall serves as a chilling reminder of remembering our past. You go into much detail regarding the inner workings of the company itself. We’ve talk a lot through-out this semester about the EIC, but we never really got to learn what it was exactly. So I both respect and appreciate someone like you researching this :)