English East Indian Company. History of the British East India Company: how English merchants conquered India

Plan
Introduction
1 Operations in India
2 Operations in China
3 Army
4 Company in the feudal system of India
5 Trade
6 Monopoly
7 Decline of the company

Bibliography

Introduction

British East India Company East India Company), until 1707 - the English East India Company - a joint-stock company established on December 31, 1600 by decree of Elizabeth I and received extensive privileges for trading in India. In fact, the royal decree gave the company a monopoly on trade in India. Initially, the company had 125 shareholders and a capital of £72,000. The company was run by a governor and a board of directors who were responsible to the shareholders' meeting. Commercial company soon acquired government and military functions, which she lost only in 1858.

Following the Dutch East India Company, the British also began to place their shares on the stock exchange.

used various titles: The Venerable East India Company Honorable East India Company), East India Company, Bahadur Company.

The company also had interests outside of India, seeking to secure safe routes to the British Isles. In 1620, she tried to capture Table Mountain in the territory of modern South Africa, and later occupied St. Helena. A major problem for the Company was piracy, which peaked in 1695 when the pirate Henry Avery captured the Mogul's treasure fleet. Company troops held Napoleon on Saint Helena; its products were attacked by American colonists during the Boston Tea Party, and the Company's shipyards served as a model for St. Petersburg.

The aggressive policy of the Company was expressed in the provocation of famine in Bengal, the destruction of monasteries in Tibet and the waging of the Opium Wars in China.

1. Operations in India

see also Dutch East India Company, French East India Company, Danish East India Company, Swedish East India Company, Portuguese East India Company

The company was founded in 1600 under the name of the Company of Merchants of London trading in the East Indies. Its activities in India began in 1612, when the Great Mogul Jahangir allowed the establishment of a trading post in Surat.

In 1612 armed forces companies inflict a serious defeat on the Portuguese at the battle of Suvali. In 1640, the local ruler of Vijayanagara allowed the establishment of a second trading post in Madras. In 1647, the company already had 23 trading posts in India. Indian fabrics (cotton and silk) are in incredible demand in Europe. Tea, grain, dyes, cotton, and later Bengali opium are also exported. In 1668, the Company leased the island of Bombay, a former Portuguese colony ceded to England as a dowry by Catherine of Braganza, who had married Charles II. In 1687 the Company's headquarters in West Asia was moved from Surat to Bombay. In 1687, the Company's settlement was founded in Calcutta, after the appropriate permission of the Great Mogul. The expansion of the Company to the subcontinent began; at the same time the same expansion was carried out by a number of other European East India Companies - Dutch, French and Danish.

In 1757, at the Battle of Plassey, the troops of the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, defeated the troops of the Bengal ruler Siraj-ud-Dole - just a few volleys of British artillery put the Indians to flight. After the victory at Buxar (1764), the company receives divani - the right to rule Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, full control over the Nawab of Bengal and confiscates the Bengal treasury (values worth 5 million 260 thousand pounds sterling were confiscated). Robert Clive becomes the first British governor of Bengal. Meanwhile, expansion continued around bases in Bombay and Madras. The Anglo-Mysore Wars of 1766-1799 and the Anglo-Maratha Wars of 1772-1818 made the Company the dominant force south of the Sutlej River.

The British monopolized the foreign trade of Bengal, as well as the most important branches of intra-Bengali trade. Hundreds of thousands of Bengali artisans were forcibly attached to the trading posts of the company, where they were required to hand over their products at minimal prices. Taxes have risen sharply. The result was a terrible famine of 1769-1770, during which between 7 and 10 million Bengalis died. In the 1780s and 1790s, the famine in Bengal repeated itself: several million people died.

For almost a century, the company pursued a ruinous policy in its Indian possessions (Eng. The Great Calamity period), which resulted in the destruction of traditional crafts and the degradation of agriculture, which led to the death of starvation up to 40 million Indians. According to the famous American historian Brooks Adams (eng. Brooks Adams), in the first 15 years after the annexation of India, the British took out of Bengal valuables worth 1 billion pounds. By 1840, the British ruled most of India. The unrestrained exploitation of the Indian colonies was the most important source of accumulation of British capital and industrial revolution in England.

The expansion took two main forms. The first was the use of so-called subsidiary contracts, essentially feudal - local rulers transferred the conduct of foreign affairs to the Company and were obliged to pay a "subsidy" for the maintenance of the Company's army. In case of non-payment, the territory was annexed by the British. In addition, the local ruler undertook to maintain a British official ("resident") at his court. Thus, the company recognized "native states" headed by Hindu maharajas and Muslim nawabs. The second form was direct rule.

The "subsidies" paid to the Company by the local rulers were spent on the recruitment of troops, which consisted mainly of the local population, thus the expansion was carried out by the hands of the Indians and with the money of the Indians. The disintegration of the Mughal Empire, which occurred towards the end of the 18th century, contributed to the spread of the system of "subsidiary agreements". De facto, the territory of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh consisted of several hundred independent principalities that were at war with each other.

The first ruler to accept the "subsidiary treaty" was the Nizam of Hyderabad. In a number of cases, such treaties were imposed by force; thus, the ruler of Mysore refused to accept the treaty, but was forced to do so as a result of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. In 1802, the Maratha Union of Principalities was forced to sign a subsidiary treaty on the following terms:

1. With the Peshwa (First Minister) there remains a permanent Anglo-Sipai army of 6 thousand people.

2. A number of territorial districts are annexed by the Company.

3. The Peshwa does not sign any contracts without consulting the Company.

4. The Peshwa does not declare war without consulting the Company.

5. Any territorial claims of the Peshwa against local principalities shall be subject to arbitration by the Company.

6. Peshwa withdraws claims to Surat and Baroda.

7. The Peshwa recalls all Europeans from his service.

8. International affairs are conducted in consultation with the Company.

The strongest opponents of the Company were two states that had formed on the ruins of the Mughal empire - the Maratha Union and the state of the Sikhs. The collapse of the Sikh empire was facilitated by the chaos that followed the death in 1839 of its founder, Ranjit Singh. Civil strife broke out both between individual sardars (generals of the Sikh army and de facto large feudal lords), and between the Khalsa (Sikh community) and darbar (courtyard). In addition, the Sikh population experienced friction with local Muslims, often ready to fight under British banners against the Sikhs.

At the end of the 18th century, under Governor-General Richard Wellesley, active expansion began; The company captured Cochin (1791), Jaipur (1794), Travancourt (1795), Hyderabad (1798), Mysore (1799), principalities along the Sutlej River (1815), central Indian principalities (1819), Kutch and Gujarat (1819), Rajputana ( 1818), Bahawalpur (1833). The annexed provinces included Delhi (1803) and Sindh (1843). Punjab, the Northwest Frontier and Kashmir were captured in 1849 during the Anglo-Sikh wars. Kashmir was immediately sold to the Dogra dynasty, which ruled in the principality of Jammu, and became a "native state". In 1854 Berard was annexed, in 1856 Oud.

Britain saw its competitor in colonial expansion Russian empire. Fearing the influence of the Russians on Persia, the Company began to increase pressure on Afghanistan, in 1839-1842 the First Anglo-Afghan War took place. Russia established a protectorate over the Khanate of Bukhara and annexed Samarkand in 1868, a rivalry began between the two empires for influence in Central Asia, which in the Anglo-Saxon tradition is called the "Great Game".

In 1857, an uprising against the British East India Campaign was raised, which is known in India as the First War of Independence or the Sepoy Rebellion. However, the rebellion was crushed, and the British Empire established direct administrative control over almost the entire territory of South Asia.

2. Operations in China

In 1711, the Company establishes a sales office in the Chinese city of Canton (Chinese 广州 - Guangzhou) for tea purchases. First, tea is bought for silver, then goes in exchange for opium, which is grown on Indian (located mainly in Bengal) plantations owned by the Company.

Despite the Chinese government's 1799 ban on opium imports, the company continued to smuggle opium at a rate of about 900 tons per year. The volume of the Company's Chinese trade was second only to that of trade with India. For example, total cost convoy sent to England in 1804, in the prices of that time amounted to £8,000,000. Its successful defense was the occasion for national celebration.

Most of the money earmarked for the purchase of Chinese tea comes from the opium trade. By 1838, the illegal import of opium had already reached 1,400 tons per year, and the Chinese government introduced the death penalty for smuggling opium.

Reading the article will take: 13 min.

400-Year-Old British East India Company Business Scheme: Armed Robbery

Approximately 250 years ago, a new word appeared in the English language - loot - translated today as "booty", "trophy" and "freebie". The origin of the verbal new acquisition is India, where "lūṭ" meant booty obtained by robbery. It is this word that can characterize the whole essence of the second transnational corporation of our planet, known as the East India Company.

Emblem of the East India Company. The slogan on it "Auspicio regis et senatus angliae" is translated from Latin as "Under the authority of the Crown and the Parliament of England"

I will note right away: the name "East India Company" does not directly refer to England. It reflects the sphere of colonial interests of European enterprises - South Asia. Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and even Germany (Prussia) had their own East India Companies. However, only one joint-stock enterprise surpassed in all scales other national trading companies and absorbed their colonial territories - the British East India Company. Therefore, in this article, the “East India Company” refers to the English enterprise.

England on the way to Great Britain

In the 17th century, Britain was one of the poorest states in Western Europe. The series of crises left to the kingdom by the rebellious Henry VIII - the rejection of Catholicism, confusion with the succession to the throne and the undisguised hostility of all the "sister" states in the Roman past - it seemed that only the marriage union of Elizabeth Tudor with the offspring of the royal house of Spain could solve these problems.

Queen Elizabeth I of England. Her stubborn opposition to Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands led to the creation of the English East India Company

But the youngest daughter of a Protestant king had no interest in marriage, just as she had no interest in the Catholic faith. She intended to remain the Queen of England even on her deathbed, not sharing power with anyone at all. The daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII - Elizabeth I - showed the royal houses of Europe such a rebellious temper as her father.

In England, Elizabeth Tudor, the most revered British queen, three years before her death supported the creation of the East India Company, a merchant maritime JSC, which later became the greatest transnational corporation on our planet in the 17th-19th centuries AD. By the way, modern popularity of English language on Earth in many ways happened precisely thanks to the East India Company.

Meanwhile, the entire European colonial history, starting from the end of the 15th century, was based on a single goal - to reach India and China by sea.

England becomes a maritime power

Everyone was looking for this mysterious and fabulously rich country of spices, gold and diamonds 500 years ago - the Spaniards, the French, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes ... As a result, the Spaniards found South America, starting to extract resources from there (conquest). The rest, having experienced many maritime failures, focused on Africa. India first became a colonial star in the crown of Portugal - the way to it around the African continent was discovered by the navigator-privateer Vasco da Gama, who arrived on the Indian shores in 1498 on three ships.

Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator and privateer. The discoverer of the sea route along the coast of the African continent to the Indian Ocean

Watching how neighboring European states are enriched with each arrival sea vessels from distant overseas colonies, Henry VII Tudor ordered the construction of the first large-tonnage ships for the needs of England. By the accession to the English throne of his son Henry VIII in 1509, the kingdom had five ships, and five years later there were already 30 or more.

However, the possession of a full-fledged ocean fleet did not in itself create opportunities for colonial enrichment - England had neither nautical charts nor experienced captains who could follow the course across the ocean expanses. Routes to the southwest South America), mastered by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, were not suitable for English trading expeditions - the British crown did not need colonial conflicts with Spain or Portugal. Of course, English privateers periodically attacked Spanish galleons loaded with silver, but the British authorities supported this type of sailors behind the scenes. And they were always ready to give up the privateers caught in the unsuccessful capture of colonial cargo.

The search for India by the British

The Genoese navigator John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) suggested to Henry VII a trip to the west across the sea (the Europeans did not know about the existence of the Atlantic Ocean at that time) to find India. The chances of success increased with the news that the Spanish crown, thanks to the Portuguese navigator Christopher Columbus, found a sea route to India in 1492 (in fact, South America was discovered, but neither Columbus nor anyone else knew about it).

Giovanni Caboto (eng. John Cabot) Genoese navigator, in search of a sea route to India, who discovered a route across the Atlantic Ocean to North America

With the blessing of the English crown and with the financing of Bristol merchants, John Cabot on one ship reached the coast of North America (the territory of modern Canada) in 1497, considering these lands to be the “blissful islands of Brazil” - a remote eastern part of India. However, English geographers decided that the land found by Cabot was part of the “kingdom of the great khan” (as China was called in Europe). Subsequently, it was the discovery of Cabot and the right of England declared by him to own the lands of North America that led to the formation of the American colony of Great Britain and the emergence of the modern USA.

The second attempt to sail to India, or at least to China, was made by a squadron under the command of the English navigators Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor. A British expedition of three ships was sent east across the northern seas in 1553. After many months of travel and wintering off the coast of Lapland, Chancellor's only ship entered the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. The crews of two other ships that missed Chancellor died during the winter at the mouth of the Varzina River.

Richard Chancellor, English navigator, at the reception of Ivan the Terrible (engraving). He opened the northern sea route to Russia and participated in organizing trade relations with her, although he initially tried to swim to India

Meeting with local fishermen, Richard Chancellor learned that he was not in India, but in Russia. The gracious reception of English sailors by Ivan IV the Terrible led to an active centuries-old trade between England and Russia with the formation of a privileged merchant monopoly, the Muscovy Company. However, the Russian tsar, who waged frequent wars, was exclusively interested in British military goods (gunpowder, guns, cannon iron, etc.), which caused protests from the kings of Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Union, Denmark and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Therefore, the trade of the British with the Russians did not give high profits.

How England Found India

The first English navigator to discover a sea route to India was the privateer James Lancaster. Having obtained detailed copies of Portuguese nautical charts from the bankrupt Dutch merchant Jan Huygen van Linschoten and leading a flotilla of three paramilitary ships, Lancaster reached the Indian Ocean in 1591-1592 and went east further than India - to the Malay Peninsula. Pursuing his favorite business - robbing all the ships that came across nearby - Lancaster spent a year near Malaysian Penang. In 1594 he returned to England, becoming the discoverer of India for the English crown and the first captain hired to carry cargo to South Asia.

James Lancaster, English navigator and privateer (privateer), who opened the way for Britain to South Asia. Using van Linschoten's sea charts with routes, depths and shoals plotted on them, he circled Africa and entered the Indian Ocean, where he robbed the ships of Asian merchants.

However, the reason for the formation of the East India Company was not at all the acquisition of nautical charts with a route to India - Dutch merchants doubled the cost of pepper. It was for this reason that English merchants turned to Queen Elizabeth I for support, who allowed direct monopoly trade with the overseas state on favorable terms for the British crown (royal charter). To confuse the Portuguese and Dutch, India was called the country of the "Mughals".

In addition to the British, the Indian empire of the Timurids (Baburids), who controlled most of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the southeastern lands of Afghanistan, was not called the "Great Mughals". The rulers (padishahs) of this empire themselves called their state Gurkanian (from the word "Gurkānī" - from the Persian "son-in-law of the Khan"), considering themselves the descendants of the great Asian conqueror Tamerlane.

How the East India Company solved the problem of Portugal

The first four flights of the British, made in 1601-1608, made the Portuguese nervous, but the two kingdoms did not yet have reasons for direct colonial conflicts. England did not yet have land holdings in South Asia. Portugal, after several battles with Arab rulers in the 16th century, controlled most of the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, the island of Mozambique, the Azores, Bombay and Goa completely, as well as several cities in the Indian state of Gujarat. And the Portuguese successfully repelled the attacks of the Ottoman Turks, finally establishing their dominant position in the South Asian territories.

The flag of the East India Company on its merchant and warships

In an attempt to restore the status quo, four ships of the Portuguese fleet attempted to block and destroy four ships of the East India Company at the end of November 1612 near the town of Suvali (Gujarat, India). Captain James Best, who commanded the English flotilla, managed not only to repulse the attacks of the Portuguese, but also to win the battle.

Interestingly, it was the unsuccessful attack of the Portuguese that convinced the Mughal empire's padishah Jahangir to give permission to create a trading post for the East India Company. He saw the British as an opportunity for fair dealing, especially since the British East India Company did not interfere in the affairs of local religious denominations. And the Portuguese actively propagated Catholicism and attacked ships with Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca, thanks to which they enjoyed the full support of the papal throne. By the way, the envoy to the English King James I, sent by land by James Best after reaching an agreement with the Mughal king Anthony Starkey, was poisoned on the way by Jesuit monks in the interests of the Pope.

Charles II, King of England. His marriage to Catherine of Braganna, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, solved the problems of the East India Company in the Portuguese-Indian colonies.

It was after the naval battle with the Portuguese that the leaders of the British East India Company decided to create their own navy and land army. Investment in the spice trade needed protection that the English crown could not and would not provide.

Starting from 1662, the colonial conflict in South Asia between Portugal and England was settled - after the restoration of the power of the crown in Great Britain, Charles II married the daughter of the Portuguese king, receiving Bombay and Tangier as a dowry (the king handed them over to the East India Company for a symbolic payment of 10 pounds sterling per year). Portugal needed the fleet of England to protect their colonies in South America from the encroachments of the Spaniards - India was considered by them not so valuable.

How did the East India Company solve the French problem?

The French version of the East India Company arose in 1664 and a little more than 10 years later, two Indian colonies, Pondicherry and Chandernagor, were founded by its representatives. For the next 100 years, the southeastern part of the Hindustan peninsula was controlled by the French colonialists.

However, in 1756, the Seven Years' War broke out in Europe, the opponents of which, among other things, were England and France. A year later, hostilities began between the French and British colonial troops on the territory of Hindustan.

Major General Robert Clive as a young man. Under his leadership, the army of the British East India Company took control of the entire Hindustan peninsula.

The French General Thomas Arthur, Count de Lally made the biggest strategic mistake - he refused to support the young Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, who opposed the British and captured Calcutta. Lally hoped to remain neutral with the British colonial troops, but as soon as East India Company General Robert Clive forced the Bengal ruler to surrender, East India Company troops attacked French trading posts and military fortifications.

Defeated by the British at Fort Vandivash, the Comte de Lally tried to take refuge in the French fortress of Pondicherry with the troops that he had left (about 600 people). The French colonial military squadron under the command of Admiral Antoine d'Aché, which suffered heavy losses in the crews of ships after three battles with the fleet of the East India Company at Cuddalore in 1758-1759, went to the island of Mauritius. General de Lally had no hope for help from the sea. After 4.5 months of siege, the French surrendered the fortress in January 1761 to the troops of the British East India Company.

The aftermath of the Battle of Pondicherry, which took place in 1760-61 and became part of the Seven Years' War. The French Fort of Pondicherry was completely dismantled by the East India Company.

Subsequently, the British demolished the fortress of Pondicherry completely in order to erase any reminders of French colonial rule. Although at the end of the Seven Years' War France partially regained the territories of the Indian colonies, she lost the right to build fortified forts and keep troops in Bengal. In 1769, the French completely left South Asia, and the British East India Company took complete control of the entire Hindustan.

How the East India Company solved the problem of the Netherlands

Military conflicts between England and the Netherlands occurred four times during the period 1652-1794, with Great Britain receiving the greatest benefit from these wars. The Dutch were direct competitors of the British in the struggle for colonial markets - their merchant navy although it was poorly armed, it was great.

The emerging class of the English bourgeoisie needed to expand trade. A series of state upheavals in England, which led to the English revolution and the execution of Charles I, brought the parliamentarians of Britain to the fore in solving external and internal state issues. The leaders of the East India Company took advantage of this - they bribed parliamentarians with shares of their corporation, prompting them to support the interests of the enterprise in order to extract the greatest personal income.

The battle of the English and Dutch fleets during the first Anglo-Dutch war

As a result of the last, fourth war with the Netherlands, a peace treaty (Paris) was concluded in 1783. The Dutch East India Company was forced to transfer to Great Britain Nagapattinam, a city in the southern part of India, which belonged to the Netherlands for over 150 years. As a result, the East India Enterprise of the Dutch merchants went bankrupt and ceased to exist in 1798. And British merchant ships were given the full right to conduct unhindered trade in the former colonial territories of the Dutch East Indies, which now belonged to the crown of the Netherlands.

Nationalization of the East India Company by Great Britain

Having achieved monopoly possession of all the territories of Colonial India during the wars of the 17th-19th centuries, the British mega-corporation began to pump out the maximum profit from the natives. Its representatives, who were the actual rulers of numerous states of South Asia, demanded that the puppet native authorities sharply limit the cultivation of grain crops, grow opium poppy, indigo and tea.

Also, the London board of the East India Company decided to increase profits by increasing the annual land tax for the farmers of Hindustan - the entire territory of the peninsula and significant areas adjacent to it from the west, east and north belonged to the British corporation. Famine years became frequent in British India - in the first case, which occurred in 1769-1773, over 10 million local residents (a third of the population) died of starvation in Bengal alone.

In the photo - a starving Hindu family during the famine in Bengal, which happened in 1943, i.e. much later than the events described. However, the situation in the famine years in Hindustan, controlled by the East India Company, was much worse.

Mass famine among the population of Colonial India, during the period of its complete control of the East India Company, occurred in 1783-1784 (11 million people died), in 1791-1792 (11 million people died), in 1837-1838 ( 800 thousand people died), 1868-1870 (1.5 million people died).

Indicative nuance: in the course of the fight against the famine of 1873-1874, the manager of the company, Richard Temple, overestimated the possible consequences of another drought and spent "too much" money on the purchase of Burmese grain for the starving population of the colonies - 100,000 tons of grain were bought and delivered in vain. Although the death rate from starvation was minimized (a few died), the Temple was severely criticized both in Parliament and in the UK media.

Sir Richard Temple II, 1st Baronet of Great Britain. Managed the colonies of the East India
companies in 1846-1880

To whitewash himself, Richard Temple conducted experiments to determine the minimum dietary norm for the natives - he ordered several dozen healthy and strong Indians to be selected for the labor camp, to keep each test group on a certain diet and wait who would survive and who would die of starvation. In his memoirs, Temple wrote that some of the Indian boys in the labor camp were so weak from hunger that they looked like living skeletons, completely unable to work. It is worth noting that for "Indian services" to the UK, Richard Temple received the title of baronet.

The British leaders of the East India Company were not interested in the lack of food for the population of the Indian colonies. However, the widespread famine caused another problem - popular uprisings began in India. Previously, the British managed to minimize the risks of uprisings due to the social disunity of the population of Hindustan. Castes, many religious denominations, ethnic strife and tribal conflicts between the hereditary rulers of numerous mini-states - these were luxurious conditions for foreign colonial control of Indian lands.

83-year-old Bahadur Shah II, the last king of the Great Mughals. In a photo taken in 1858, he is awaiting a decision from the colonial court for his part in the sepoy uprising. His children, who are able to inherit the padishah throne, have been executed by this moment.

However, the increasing famine against the background of the openly indifferent behavior of the East India Company employees towards the indigenous population of the colonies caused an uprising in the ranks of the colonial army, most of which was recruited from the inhabitants of Hindustan. In 1857-1859, there was a sepoy uprising, supported by many local rulers of South Asia, including the last Mughal padishah, Bahadur Shah II. The suppression of the uprising took more than three years, the mercenary troops of the East India Company drowned the lands of Hindustan in blood, massacring about 10 million people.

Lord Henry John Temple, III Viscount Palmerston. He submitted to the British Parliament an act on the transfer of colonial India from the East Indies colony to the power of the English crown.

Against the backdrop of ugly news from the Indian colonies, the British Parliament by a majority in 1858 passes the "Act for the Better Government of India", introduced by Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston (Lord Palmerston). Under the terms of the Management Act English colonies in South Asia is transferred to the British crown, i.e. Queen Victoria of Great Britain also becomes Queen of India.

The East India Company is recognized as unable to cope with the leadership of the Indian colonial territories, and therefore must be closed. Having completed the transfer of affairs and property to the Secretary of State of Her Majesty and the Indian Civil Service created by the authorities of England, in 1874 the East India Company ceases to exist.

Uniqueness of the British East India Company

Any of the modern mega-corporations - Google, Exxon Mobile or Pepsi Co - with their multibillion-dollar annual turnover of funds are only a faint semblance of a powerful British corporation created in 1600. From the inception of the British East India Company, for the next 100 years, all of its business operations were managed by no more than 35 people who made up the permanent staff of the main office in Leadenhall Street, London. All other personnel, including captains and crews of ships, as well as an extensive military contingent, were hired for a period strictly limited by contracts.

The territory of South Asia, which was a colony of the East India Company. After the complete closure of the trading corporation in 1874, the lands marked on the map came under British rule.

The East India Company's army and navy were three times the size of the royal armed forces. At the beginning of the 18th century, the size of the corporate army was 260,000 people, the navy consisted of more than 50 multi-deck ships with modern cannon weapons and crews prepared for battle.

By the way, it was on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, discovered by the Portuguese, originally owned by the Netherlands and captured from them by the East India Company in 1569, that Napoleon Bonaparte was kept under the control of the troops of the trading corporation until the end of his days. It was absolutely impossible for the former emperor of France to escape from this island, like the Italian Elba, as well as to attract any of the Nepalese Gurkha soldiers to his side.

The position of the island of St. Helena, where Napoleon Bonaparte was kept until his death

The annual turnover of the corporation in its best period - the first half of the 18th century - was equal to half of the entire annual turnover of Great Britain (hundreds of millions of pounds sterling). The East India Company minted its coins on the territory of its colonies, which together exceeded the area of the British Isles.

Having made a huge contribution to the Pax Britannica project, the leadership of the East India Company also influenced the development of societies and political forces in various parts of the Earth. For example, Chinatowns in the US came about because of the Opium Wars started by corporations. And the reason for the struggle for independence for the American settlers was given by the "Boston Tea Party" - the supply of tea by the East India Company at dumping prices.

Coin minted by the East India Company for settlements within the borders of the Indian colonies

Massacres indiscriminately by gender and age, torture, blackmail, famine, bribery, deceit, intimidation, robbery, bloody military operations by "wild" detachments of peoples alien to the local population - the leaders of the British East India Company did not suffer from philanthropy. The irresistible greed of the second mega-corporation, its irresistible desire to maintain a monopoly position in the markets of our planet - that is what drove the East India Company forward. However, for any modern corporation this approach in business is the norm.

In conclusion, an explanation is required for attentive guests of the svagor.com blog - why did I call the English East India the second megacorporation in the historical past of the Earth? Because I consider the first and more ancient mega-corporation that still exists - the papacy and the Catholic Church.

The British East India Company, until 1707 - the English East India Company - a joint-stock company created on December 31, 1600 by decree of Elizabeth I and received under this charter a monopoly of trade of its members with the East Indies, including the right to legislate and the right trial of their employees across the ocean and - which was also implied - the right to make war and make peace in countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope. With the help of the East India Company, the British colonization of India and a number of countries of the East was carried out.

In fact, the royal decree gave the company a monopoly on trade in India. Initially, the company had 125 shareholders and a capital of £72,000. The company was run by a governor and a board of directors who were responsible to the shareholders' meeting. The commercial company soon acquired government and military functions, which it lost only in 1858. Following the Dutch East India Company, the British also began to place their shares on the stock exchange.

After its formation, the Company organized its own lobby in the English Parliament. She was under pressure from entrepreneurs who were going to open their own trading companies in India. In 1694, deregulation was undertaken, however, soon cancelled. In 1698 a "parallel" company was founded (the "English Company Trading with the East Indies"). After a series of disagreements, both in England and in India, in 1708 both companies merged. The name of the combined company was "The United Company of Merchants of England Trading with the East Indies". In exchange for the extension of trading privileges, the combined company paid the treasury 3 million 200 thousand pounds sterling.

For generations to come, not a single ship of the English navy sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. The Crown did not consider itself able to take any action in the East in defense of national trade in these areas, just as it was done in defense of Atlantic trade with the American colonies. Therefore, the company had to defend its trading posts with the help of sepoys on its own; on the seas, the capital ships of the East India Company, built, equipped and manned both for trade and for war, repelled with their side batteries the attack of Portuguese and Dutch competitors and pirates of all nations. But the company wisely took care to avoid clashes with the Indian rulers, and did not show any territorial or political desires.

At the beginning of the British expansion in India, there was a feudal system that was formed as a result of the Muslim conquest of the 16th century ( Mughal Empire). Landowners - zamindars - collected feudal rent, their activities were monitored by a council ("sofa"). The land itself was considered state property and could be taken from the zamindar.

The first great Anglo-Indian statesman, Thomas Roe, ambassador of James I and agent of the company at the court of the Great Mogul, laid the foundations of a policy that would guide his compatriots in the East for more than a century. “War and trade are incompatible. Let's make it a rule: if you want profit, look for it at sea and in peaceful trade; it would certainly be a mistake to maintain garrisons and wage wars on land in India.”
As long as the Mughal Empire maintained its authority, which continued throughout the Stuart period, the company was able to follow Ro's cautious advice. It was not until the vast peninsula was in the grip of anarchy that the English merchants of Clive's time (Baron Robert Clive, 1725-1774, whom the English dictionary defines as "one of the founders of British India") were unwittingly drawn into the war and embarked on a path of conquest to save their trade. from Indian and French aggression.
Under the first Stuarts, the company founded small trading posts in Madras, in Surat, north of Bombay (Later, thanks to the marriage of Charles II with the Portuguese princess, Bombay was also annexed to the English possessions as part of her dowry.) and around 1640 - in Bengal. The rights and privileges of the company within the walls of the cities and the "factories" granted to them were based on agreements with local rulers.

For almost a century, the company pursued a ruinous policy in its Indian possessions., which resulted in the destruction of traditional crafts and the degradation of agriculture, which led to the death of starvation to 40 million Indians. According to the famous American historian Brooks Adams, in the first 15 years after the annexation of India, the British removed from Bengal valuables worth 1 billion pounds. By 1840, the British ruled most of India. The unrestrained exploitation of the Indian colonies was the most important source of the accumulation of British capital and the industrial revolution in England.

The expansion took two main forms. The first was the use of so-called subsidiary agreements, essentially feudal - local rulers transferred the conduct of foreign affairs to the Company and were obliged to pay a "subsidy" for the maintenance of the Company's army. In case of non-payment, the territory was annexed by the British. In addition, the local ruler undertook to maintain a British official ("resident") at his court. Thus, the company recognized "native states" headed by Hindu maharajas and Muslim nawabs. The second form was direct rule.

The enemies of the company were the Portuguese, who soon ceased to be dangerous, as well as the growing power of the Dutch, who forced the British to the East from the most profitable trade in the spice islands (currently - Moluccas) (1623) and forced them instead to consolidate their position on the Hindustan peninsula itself.

The trade with the East Indies, which required sailing for a whole year for a distance of ten thousand miles without reloading goods, even more than the trade with America, contributed to the development of the art of navigation and shipbuilding. Already in the reign of James I, the East India Company was building "good ships of such capacity as had never before been used for trade." The ships of the Levant Company, intended for Mediterranean voyages, had a carrying capacity of only 100 to 350 tons, while the first trip to India was made on a ship of 600 tons, and the sixth trip (1610) on a ship of 1100 tons.

Long voyages to India for commercial purposes would not have been possible if the ships had not been fighting scurvy. But from the very beginning, the East India Company supplied crews with "lemon water" and oranges. This was not the case in the navies of the Stuarts and Hanovers, and the English navies suffered greatly until Captain Cook, as famous a naval doctor as he was the discoverer of new continents, made a marked improvement in food and drink on board ships. In the days of the Stuarts, the East India Company had about 30 large ships to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, in addition to numerous small ships that never left the eastern seas. A large number of ships were wrecked or captured by pirates and the Dutch. The great ships were so solidly made of the best English oak that those that survived in spite of all dangers could serve on the seas for thirty or even sixty years. Already during the time of James I, "the company invested a lump sum of 300 thousand pounds sterling in the construction of ships, and this exceeded all the investments of King James in the navy." Thus, Indian trade "provided the nation with large ships and skilled sailors". To protect its merchant ships, the Company created and maintained until 1877 a private fleet, called alternately the East India Company Flotilla, Her Majesty's Indian Fleet, the India Flotilla, again the Bombay Flotilla, Her Majesty's Indian Flotilla and the Royal Indian Flotilla. It became the forerunner of the Royal Indian Navy.

London, where the headquarters of the East India Company was located, became the center of all English trade with the East. Bristol became a port for the transatlantic trade in tobacco and slaves, and Liverpool soon followed suit; but the development of trade with the American colonies and India, the growth in the size of merchant ships, all created the conditions for the development of London at the expense of many smaller ports, which were suitable for the small ships and short voyages of an earlier era.
Trade with India increased not only the merchant fleet, but also the wealth of England. True, it was possible to sell only a very limited amount of English cloth in the hot climate of the East. The enemies of the company have always based their accusations against it on this. But Queen Elizabeth very wisely allowed the company to export from England a certain amount of English government coin, on the condition that the same amount of gold and silver be returned after each journey. Around 1621, the £100,000 exported in bullion returned in the form of oriental goods of fivefold value, of which only a quarter was consumed in the country. The rest was sold abroad with big profit, and the wealth of the state increased, and this was a response to the criticism of opponents of the export of gold abroad.Before the Civil War, the main items imported into the port of London on large ships of the company were saltpeter (for the gunpowder of warlike Europe), raw silk, and most importantly, spices, especially pepper. The lack of fresh meat in winter, which was constantly felt until roots and herbs were cultivated, was the main cause of the need for spices in our ancestors; for lack of anything better, spices were used both as a means of preserving meat and as a seasoning.

In 1720, 15% of British imports were from India, virtually all of which went through the Company. Under pressure from the Company's lobbyists, its exclusive privileges were extended in 1712 and 1730 until 1766.

In the following years, Anglo-French relations deteriorated sharply. The clashes lead to a sharp increase in government spending. Already in 1742, the company's privileges were extended by the government until 1783 in return for a loan of 1 million pounds sterling.

The Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 ended in the defeat of France. She managed to keep only small enclaves in Pondicherry, Meiha, Karikal and Chadernagar without any military presence. At the same time, Britain begins its rapid expansion in India. Before gaining the right to collect taxes from Bengal in 1765, the Company had to import gold and silver to pay for Indian goods. In 1765, the Company receives sofas the right to collect taxes in Bengal. It soon became clear that the British did not have enough experienced administrators who would understand local taxes and payments, and tax collection was farmed out. The result of the Company's tax policy was the Bengal famine of 1769-1770, which claimed the lives of 7-10 million people (that is, from one quarter to one third of the population of the Bengal Presidency). Bengal's tribute made it possible to stop these imports and finance the Company's wars in other parts of India.

In 1772, under Governor General Warren Hastings, the company began to collect taxes itself, establishing a Bureau of Taxes with offices in Calcutta and Patna, and moving the old Mughal tax records from Murshidabad to Calcutta. In general, the Company inherited the pre-colonial tax system, in which the brunt of the tax burden fell on the farmers.

The cost of capturing Bengal, and the resulting famine, caused serious financial difficulties for the Company, which were exacerbated by economic stagnation in Europe. The Board of Directors tried to avoid bankruptcy by turning to Parliament for financial assistance. In 1773 the Company gained more autonomy in its trading operations in India, and started trading with America. Monopolistic activity The company was the occasion for the Boston Tea Party, which started the American Revolutionary War.

Same way heavy expenses The company also carried on the maintenance of its own army. In 1796, the Company's troops numbered 70 thousand people, including 13 thousand British troops and 57 thousand Indian (24 thousand in the Bengal presidency, 24 thousand in Madras, 9 thousand in Bombay). At the same time, the Bengal army was used abroad - in Java and Ceylon, as well as to help the Madras army during the First Anglo-Mysore War. Compared with the soldiers of the Indian rulers, the soldiers of the Company received higher salaries. Better guns and naval support put them in a better position.

In 1796, under pressure from the board of directors in London, the troops were reduced, but by 1806 they increased again, reaching 158,500 people. (24,500 British troops, and 134,000 Indian).

Between 1760 and 1800, India changed from an exporter of finished goods to an exporter of raw materials and a buyer of manufactured goods. Raw cotton, silk, indigo, and opium were exported. Since 1830, a massive invasion of India by British textile products began. The American Civil War had a profound effect on India; cotton from the southern states of the United States became unaffordable to Britain, so demand for Indian cotton soared, quadrupling prices. Many farmers switched to growing cotton, but after the end of the war in 1865, the market fell again. After the Restoration added tea , coffee and silks produced in the East for European markets, and porcelain from China.

By the time of Queen Anne (r. 1702-1714), as a result of the development of the East India trade, the drinks commonly consumed, the usual forms of social relations, the manner of dressing and the tastes of her subjects from the wealthy classes had changed significantly. These seafaring trading companies, with their great losses and even greater profits, became an essential element of social and political life under the Stuarts. Their wealth and influence were widely used against the crown during the civil war, partly for religious reasons, partly because London was predominantly a supporter of the "roundheads", and partly because merchants were unhappy with the treatment of James I and Charles I. Monopoly on the production and trade in England of many consumer goods was left to courtiers and clever businessmen - owners of patents. Such a policy, more widely adopted by Charles I as a means of increasing revenues not approved by Parliament, met with resistance from jurists and parliamentarians; deservedly so, it proved unpopular both with buyers, who saw that it led to higher prices for consumer goods, and with merchants, who saw it as a restriction and hindrance to trade.

But the merchants of the East India Company were particularly displeased that the king, in granting such useless monopolies in the home market, was at the same time violating their own much-needed monopoly of commerce in the East, although all expenses for political and military activities in that part of the globe fell on the company, not the crown. Charles I authorized the creation of a second company for trade in India: the company of Cortina, which, by its competition and bad faith, had almost ruined all English trade in the East by the time of the Long Parliament (1640). The policy of Pym (the leader of the opposition in the Long Parliament.) and Parliament, aimed at eliminating monopolies in England itself and at supporting the monopolies of overseas trading companies, was much more liked by the City. One of the most important results of the victory of the parliamentary parties in the civil war was the virtual abolition of monopolies within the country. Since then, although international trade and trade with India were subject to regulation, the industry in England was already free from those medieval restrictions that still hampered its growth in the countries of Europe. This was one of the reasons why England in the 18th century was at the head of the industrial revolution.

The first kings of the Stuart dynasty, neither in Europe nor in Asia, did nothing effective to prevent the Dutch from destroying the ships and trading posts of the company in the East. The memory of the "Amboin Massacre" (1623), when the Dutch expelled the English merchants from the spice islands, is firmly remembered. More than thirty years later, Cromwell, through military and diplomatic action in Europe, won satisfaction for this old insult. The Protector really did a lot to protect English trade and its interests throughout the world. But his spending on the army and navy before his death proved too much of a burden for trade, and the restoration of the monarchy, bringing disarmament and lower taxes, led to economic relief. Cromwell's posthumous reputation as a great "imperialist" was by no means undeserved. With his conquest of Jamaica, he did what Elizabeth could not do - he showed all future governments an example of how to use the favorable circumstances of the war to seize remote colonies from other European powers.

The competition of the Cortina Company, and later the difficulties of the civil wars in England, almost completely ruined the East India Company and nearly ended English ties with India. But during the protectorate, the old company, with the help of Cromwell, restored its shaky fortunes and determined the permanent forms of its financial activities as a single joint stock company. Until then, funds were collected for each individual trip (though usually also on a share basis). The very first voyages often yielded 20 or 30 per cent profit, but sometimes only 5 per cent, or even one loss, as happened in the case of battles or wreckage. However, in 1657 a permanent fund was created - the "New Common Capital" - for all future commercial enterprises. For thirty years after the restoration of the monarchy, the average income per initial capital at first it was 20 percent, and later - 40 percent a year. The exchange price of a share of £100 reached £500 in 1685. There was no need to increase the original number of shares, since the company was in such a strong position that it could take out short-term loans at very low interest rates, sometimes as low as 3 percent, and make huge profits from these loans.

Therefore, the great wealth obtained from eastern trade remained in the hands of a few, mainly very rich people. Under the last Stuarts (until 1688), Joshua Child (1630-1699, baronet, merchant and economist who led the East India Company) could set aside large sums to bribe the court and then to bribe Parliament in order to maintain the company's monopoly. The common merchants, who had to pay dearly for the shares, if they had the opportunity to acquire them at all, expressed their indignation more and more sharply every year at the fact that no one, except for a narrow circle of a few happy shareholders, was allowed to trade beyond the cape. Good Hope. "Monopoly breakers" from Bristol and elsewhere sent their ships to exercise "free trade." But the company's monopoly, though not popular, was legal, and its agents enforced the law with a firm hand. In the regions that were a year away from Westminster, strange incidents, unknown to the general public, occurred at sea and on land between English rivals, who were fiercely at enmity with each other.

The London Company also sent ships directly to the Persian Gulf (for the first time in 1628) - to the displeasure of the Levant Company, which sought to trade with the Shah's possessions using land routes.

Unfamiliarity with the situation in the Far East made it impossible for London merchants to conduct direct trade with China, but the employees of the East India Company on the spot became so familiar with the situation that they were able to conduct this trade themselves and use China's enormous resources.

Based on their trading posts in Madras and Bombay, the British began to trade with Canton, and in 1711 the Company established a trade office in Canton (Guangzhou) to purchase tea.

Since the 1800s, there has been a sharp increase in demand for tea from China in Britain. The volume of the Company's Chinese trade was second only to that of trade with India. For example, the total cost of a convoy sent to England in 1804 was £8,000,000 in the prices of the time. Its successful defense was the occasion for national celebration.

Since the Company could neither pay for it in gold and silver, nor offer China European goods, tea is first bought for silver, then it is exchanged for opium, and the Company begins mass cultivation in India (located mainly in Bengal) of opium for exported to China, where he had an extensive underground market.

By 1838, the illegal import of opium had already reached 1,400 tons per year and accounted for up to 40% of India's exports, while the Chinese government introduced the death penalty for opium smuggling, and the destruction by the Chinese governor of a consignment of British smuggled opium in 1839 led the British to start hostilities against China, developed into First Opium War (1839-1842).

Britain saw the Russian Empire as its competitor in colonial expansion. Fearing the influence of the Russians on Persia, the Company began to increase pressure on Afghanistan, in 1839-1842 the First Anglo-Afghan War took place. Russia established a protectorate over the Khanate of Bukhara and annexed Samarkand in 1868, between the two empires began a rivalry for influence in Central Asia, in the Anglo-Saxon tradition called the "Great Game".

By 1813, the Company had seized control of all of India, excluding the Punjab, Sindh, and Nepal. Local princes became vassals of the Company. The resulting expense forced a petition to Parliament for relief. As a result, the monopoly was abolished, excluding the trade in tea, and trade with China. In 1833, the remnants of the trading monopoly were destroyed.

After the Indian National Uprising in 1857, the English Parliament passed the Act for the Better Government of India, according to which the company transferred its administrative functions to the British crown from 1858. In 1874 the company was liquidated.

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The example of the British and Dutch, who successfully developed lands remote from Europe using private capital and private initiative in the form of trading East India Companies (OIC), in the 60s of the 17th century inspired the creation of a similar joint-stock company and the king of France. Louis XIV and his associate Colbert set to work with energy. At the same time, one of the main obstacles to the creation of a new trading empire in the Indian Ocean basin turned out to be not the navies of competing states, but the inertia of thinking of their own French merchants. The merchants did not want to invest in a new venture with unclear prospects and huge risks.

How it all began

On April 1, 1664, Charpentier, the future academician of the French Academy of Sciences and protege of Jean Baptiste Colbert, presented King Louis XIV with a 57-page memoir entitled "Note from a loyal subject of Your Majesty on the establishment of a French trading company in India, useful to all the French". Louis favorably received the offering, and already on May 21, on the initiative of Colbert, the de facto head of the French government, a meeting of Parisian merchants was organized. On it, one of the merchants - Mr. Faverolle - announced some provisions on the creation of his East India Company in France.

Naturally, this speech was approved by the king and Colbert, because it was they who stood behind Faveroll. Another confirmation of this is the presence at the meeting of Messire de Berry, one of the secretaries of the royal council, and the already mentioned Charpentier. On May 26, 1664, 9 delegates were sent to the king with a request to organize the East India Company along the lines of the English and Dutch. The delegates were received by Louis during the meeting of the Royal Court with great favor, and the king asked the merchants for a few days to get acquainted with their proposals.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, one of the founding fathers of the French East India Company

A new meeting was scheduled for July 5, with the participation of Louis himself, to which, under the threat of possible disgrace in case of failure to appear, more than three hundred Parisian merchants gathered. This time, royal conditions were announced - Louis offered to fix authorized capital a new company of 15 million livres, to be contributed by the shareholders within three years. The state agreed to make a first contribution of 3 million livres, and in addition - 300 thousand to equip the first expedition. The king also announced that he agreed to contribute 300,000 livres each time in the event that private shareholders contributed an amount of 400,000.

It was determined that the company would be managed by 12 directors, who would be chosen from shareholders with a share of more than 20,000 livres. Contributors who contributed more than 6,000 livres will have the right to vote.

In August "King's Declaration of the Establishment of the East India Company" was submitted to the Paris Parliament, and on September 1, solemnly approved (approved) by the deputies. This declaration included 48 articles. Here is some of them:

« Article 36. The company has the right to send ambassadors and embassies to the rulers of India and Madagascar on behalf of the French king; to declare war or peace on them, or to carry out any other action aimed at strengthening and expanding French trade.

Article 37. The above company can operate from the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Magellan in all the South Seas. Our permission is given to the company for 50 years, and the countdown begins from the day the first ships equipped by the company sail to the East. The Company shall be engaged in trade and navigation in the aforesaid waters, while at the same time protecting any French ships in this region, for which purpose it is allowed to requisition or seize the ships, supplies, armaments it needs, necessary for the protection of our trade and our subjects.

Article 38. All lands and islands discovered by the ships of the company will forever remain in its possession. Justice and Senior Law on company lands is administered by company representatives. In turn, the French king has the Seigneur's Right over mines, gold deposits, money and jewelry, as well as any other minerals owned by the company. The King promises to use the Right of Senior only in the interests of the country.

Article 40. We, the King of France, promise the company to defend its representatives and its interests against everyone and everything, to use force of arms in order to maintain the freedom of trade and navigation of the company; remove the causes of any embarrassment or mistreatment by anyone; to escort the ships and cargoes of the company at our expense with as many warships as the company needs, and not only off the coast of Europe or Africa, but also in the waters of the West and East Indies.

Coat of arms of the French East India Company

The king approved the companies and coat of arms. On an azure field was a golden lily (the symbol of the House of Bourbon), which was bordered by olive and palm branches. At the bottom was the motto - "Florebo, quocunque ferar" ("I will flourish where I am planted"). .

Customs duties on goods imported by the OIC, according to the tariff of 1664, were determined at 3% of their estimated expert value. For the sale of French goods, the company received a reduction or exemption from customs fees, including from the tax on salt (if this salt was intended for salting fish).

The king provided a bonus of 50 livres for each ton of goods exported by the company and 75 livres for each ton of imported goods. The colonists and agents of the company, after 8 years in India, could return to France with the rank of master in their corporations. Officers and directors of departments received nobility from the king for themselves and their offspring.

The king and members of his family set an example by becoming shareholders of the OIC, but things were not without distortions. Members of the courts and masters of enterprises, under the threat of disgrace, were forced to carry money to the company. In the provinces, the quartermasters used quite lawless methods of collecting shares. So, for example, in Auvergne, the sur-intendent locked up all wealthy citizens in prison and released only those who signed IOUs in favor of the company.

Separately, there was the question of choosing the headquarters of the OIC. At first, it was located in Le Havre, Normandy, where Louis ordered the construction of a rope production and a steam room for hemp cables. Then the board was transferred to the Basque Bayona. And only on December 14, 1664, Louis gave the order to build shipyards near the Breton Port Louis, where the warehouses of the Company of the Duke of La Melliere, popularly called the Oriental, had long rotted. It was also decided to call the shipyard Eastern (L’Orient), hence the history of the glorious city of Lorient began.

Maiden voyage

On the ships, in addition to the crews, there were an additional 230 sailors and 288 colonists who were planned to be landed in Madagascar. Among the settlers were M. de Bosset, President of the Council of East Francia (as they planned to name the future colony), his secretary, M. Souchot de Renefort, and Lieutenant of the Montaubon colony. It was these three people who were supposed to represent the power in the colony.

The organization of the expedition cost the OIC contributors 500,000 livres, including the equipment of ships, the purchase of goods and provisions for the colonists.

On June 3, French ships passed the traverse of the Cape of Good Hope, and on July 10 appeared off the coast of Madagascar - near the village of Fort Dauphin (now Taulagnaru), formed by representatives of the de La Melliere Company in 1635. It was announced to the chairman of the former colony, Mr. Champmargue, that the Company de La Melliere no longer had the exclusive privilege of trading with the East, now this right belongs to the French OIC.

Map of Madagascar

On July 14, the crew of the Saint-Paul landed on the shore, and the same procedure was carried out for the adoption of Madagascar into the citizenship of the French king. De Bosset became the manager of the colony, Champmargue - the head of the local militia, de Renefort - the secretary (clerk), and Montaubon - the chief judge. About 60 colonists were left in Fort Dauphine, and the ships sailed to the island of Bourbon (the modern name is Reunion), where a small French colony, founded in 1642, also existed. There it was announced that representatives of the OIC had come to power and another 20 colonists landed. The ships then split up. "Saint-Paul" headed for the northwestern coast of Madagascar, intending to then go to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. However, the crew of this ship rebelled, the captain rounded Madagascar by the Mozambique Strait and headed for France.

"Aigle Blanc" from the island of Bourbon also went to the northwestern coast of Madagascar. He visited Fort Gallar, founded in 1642 by French merchants, where he found only two colonists (the rest had died by that time). 18 colonists were left in the fort (of which 6 were women) and headed for the island of Santa Maria, and then sailed back to Fort Dauphine.

"Toro" in November 1664 flew to the rocks of Bourbon Island, survived only 12 of the 63 members of his crew. The next day, the Vierges-de-Bon-Port appeared off the island and picked up the survivors. Together with Toro, goods worth 100 thousand livres were lost (mainly sugar heads, leather, cochineal).

The first trading yards of the French OIC in Bayonne

The ship "Vierge-de-Bon-Port" was engaged in the purchase of colonial goods and gold from the Mozambican and Madagascar kings. On February 12, 1666, the ship full of goods was already ready to head home, but the French 120-ton boat "Saint- Louis", which, together with the 130-ton Saint-Jacques, left Le Havre on July 24, 1665 (this small expedition cost the company's shareholders an additional 60 thousand livres). During the storm, the ships lost each other (“Saint-Jacques” was carried as far as the coast of Brazil, to Pernambuco, where he stayed until 1666), and the captain of the “Saint-Louis” reached the rendezvous point, to the island of Bourbon. The teams made several visits to each other's ships. Finally, on February 20, 1666, the Vierges de Beaune Port weighed anchor and went home.

On July 9, 1666, near the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, the ship was attacked by the English privateer Orange, commanded by Captain John Lyshe. An excerpt from the Orange »:

"9thHMS Orange attacked a French ship belonging to the French East India Company, which was sailing from Madagascar and the Red Sea. Groupage cargo - gold, brocade, silk, amber, pearls, precious stones, corals, wax and other scarce goods. The owner is Messire de La Chesnay of Saint-Malo. The declared value of the cargo is 100 thousand pounds sterling”.

The British boarded the OIC ship, overloaded themselves with all the valuables, and sank the ship itself. Of the 120 people of the Vierges de Beaune Port crew, 36 people drowned (their English privateer, loaded to the eyeballs with goods, refused to take on board). During the boarding, 2 more people were killed, 33 Frenchmen (including the captain) were taken prisoner. The rest of the British released on the boat. Captain Le Chesnay died in captivity on the Isle of Wight, and the secretary de Renefort (who sailed on a ship to France) was released after the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in April 1667.

Second expedition

According to the declaration on the formation of the East India Company approved on September 1, 1664, the first meeting of its shareholders was to be held three months after the approval of the declaration by Parliament, that is, on December 1, 1664. main goal This assembly was the choice of permanent directors for a period of 7 years.

However, the meeting was postponed to the beginning of March 1665 due to the unwillingness of the merchants to participate in the affairs of the new company. By January in charter capital with difficulty, 6 million 800 thousand livres were collected (including 3 million 300 thousand allocated by the king). At the same time, many French people who contributed their shares refused to contribute additional money, “preferring to lose what has already been given than throwing some more money on an absolutely meaningless undertaking”. Nevertheless, on March 20, the king managed to convene an assembly. 104 shareholders (who contributed more than 20 thousand livres) applied for the places of 12 directors.

Voting took place in the royal hall of the Louvre. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was elected president of the company. From the nobility Sir de Thou became directors, from the financiers - Messire de Berry, already familiar to us, from the merchants - Enfen, Poquelin-father, Cado, Langlois, Jabash, Bachelier, Eren de Fey, Chanlatte and Warrenne. It was decided to open six separate representative offices (chambers) of the company in Paris, Rouen, Bordeaux, Le Havre, Lyon and Nantes.

The directors were instructed to consider before May the possibility of sending a new expedition to the East, which this time was supposed to reach the Indian coast. This task was set by the king and Colbert, but the death of the Vierges-de-Bon-Port ship in the summer of 1666, along with valuables worth 2 million 500 thousand livres, was a strong blow to the shareholders. As a result, instead of 2,700,000 livres, only 626,000 livres were collected from the depositors. The bulk of the equipment of the second expedition again fell on the royal treasury.

The new squadron consisted of 10 ships:

Ship	Tonnage, t	guns	Commander
Saint-Jean-Baptiste

François de Lopy, Marquis de Mondeverga was appointed commander of the squadron, to whom the king granted the title of "admiral and lieutenant general of all French waters and lands beyond the equator." As an escort, the detachment was assigned the Chevalier de Rocher division, consisting of the Ruby, Beaufort, Mercure and Infan ships.

Accompanying the expedition as directors was the Dutchman Caron, who had been taken into French service, and Sir Fay. In addition to the crews, on board the ships were 4 infantry regiments, 4 French and 4 Dutch merchants with goods, 40 colonists, 32 women, and a total of about two thousand people. The equipment of the expedition cost 1 million livres, another 1 million 100 thousand were taken on board in the form of goods and specie.

The convoy and escort left La Rochelle on March 14, 1666. First, the ships headed for the Canary Islands, where they made a short stop. The 120-ton frigate Notre Dame de Paris was also purchased there, since the expedition leaders were seriously afraid of British attacks (there was a second Anglo-Dutch war in which France was an ally of Holland). On May 20, the squadron resumed movement, but a dangerous leak was discovered on the Terron, and Mondeverg headed for Brazil in order to repair the ship with the help of the Portuguese. On July 25, he arrived in Pernambuco, where he stayed until November 2 (the expedition also discovered the Saint-Jacques, which was strayed off during the first expedition, which was mentioned earlier). Through the stormy Atlantic, the convoy headed for the Cape of Good Hope.

Only on March 10, 1667, the ships appeared on the roadstead of Fort Dauphine, where they landed 5 women. The expedition found this colony in a terrible state. The colonists were almost out of supplies. At the same time, the long journey of the convoy to the Indian Ocean played a cruel joke on Mondeverg - they also ate all the supplies on the ships, and in Brazil they could not replenish them due to crop failure and the high cost of goods (Portuguese Brazil had not yet recovered from the Portuguese-Dutch colonial wars).

Mondeverg's desire to replenish provisions at Fort Dauphine met with a sharp rebuff from the colonists, who simply refused to transfer or sell anything to the crews. They justified this state of affairs by the fact that the squadron arrived six months later, and all the supplies left in the colony by the first expedition had long since ended. The settlers had no choice but to steal cattle from the locals, to which the Malagasy also began to respond with raids. Thanks to nine 4-pounder guns, the French managed to fend off their attacks, but there was very little gunpowder left. The Aigle Blanc, which remained in Madagascar, was pulled ashore, completely dilapidated and partly dismantled for firewood.

Having discovered this state of affairs in the colony, Caron and Fay insisted on an early move to India, where the crews could replenish provisions, and merchants could buy scarce goods that would pay for the expenses of the expedition. Mondeverg nevertheless decided to linger in Fort-Dauphine in order to "put things in order in the colony". By the forces of the crews, the village was surrounded by a stone wall, the Marquis introduced a rationing system for products, which everyone now received regardless of ranks and titles. He also allocated his money for the purchase of cattle and wheat from the Malagasy, and he forbade most of the cows and pigs to be put under the knife, creating the first stockyards in Fort Dauphine.

Madagascar city of Tolanaro (formerly Fort Dauphine)

Mondeverg also sent two ships to Bourbon Island, where he requisitioned some of the food for the Madagascan settlers.

In the autumn of 1667, another ship of the company arrived in Fort-Dauphine - the cargo flute "Coronne" under the command of Markar Avanshi, a Persian by nationality. Since the ship arrived rather quickly (leaving France in March 1667), there was an excess of provisions on it. He was immediately requisitioned by Mondeverg for the needs of the colony. Avanshi tried to be indignant, but after the marquis hinted to the native of Ispagan that the gallows were crying for him, he ordered the supplies to be unloaded.

On October 27, 1667, Caron and Avanchy set off for India on the ships Saint-Jean-de-Baptiste and Saint-Denis. On December 24, they entered the raid of Cochin (a city in southwestern India, at the time described, a Dutch colony), where they were well received. Then the ships headed for Surat, and then they went to Suali. There was a brisk trade in all cities - gold was noticeably reduced on the Saint-Jean-de-Baptiste, but the ship was full of brocade, pearls, diamonds, emeralds, Indian fabrics, corals and many other goods. On April 24, 1668, Caron sent the Saint-Jean-de-Baptiste filled to the brim to Fort Dauphine. The ship appeared on the roadstead of the Madagascar colony in May, where it unloaded food and livestock, which was purchased by the prudent Dutchman. June 21, 1668 "Saint-Jean-de-Baptiste" headed home.

English Trading Post at Surat, 1668

Fort Dauphine, thanks to the energetic actions of the Marquis Mondeverg, revived a little, but was still in a terrible state. Meanwhile, the second detachment, under the leadership of Fay, was waiting for ships from France (which Avanshi reported about their imminent approach), in order to also go to India. The two ships of the Company, the Aigle d'Or and the Force, which left Port Louis on March 20, 1668, arrived at Fort Dauphine on September 15 and 30, 1668, respectively.

On October 19, the second Indian convoy (Maria, Aigle d'Or and Force) sailed for Surat. The third caravan left Fort-Dauphin for India on August 12, 1669 ("Coronne", which took Caron, the Saint-Jean gookor and the Mazarin frigate to Fort-Dauphin). These ships passed along the Madagascar coast, near the northern part of the Mozambique Channel they got into a strong storm and appeared on the Surat roadstead only on September 23, 1669.

Thus, a large French squadron was now present in Surat, which, where by force, where by money, established relations with the rulers of Malabar and the Coromandel coast.

As for Fort Dauphine, the frigate Saint-Paul, who arrived there on October 2, 1669, brought a letter to Mondeverg, where the king expressed his dissatisfaction with the affairs in the colony. It read:

"Mr. Mondeverg. I am dissatisfied with the service you have rendered me during your command of the colony of Fort Dauphine. Upon receipt of this letter, you must board the first ship bound for France. I pray to God that he be merciful to you.

LouisXIV, King of France.

The Marquis, being absolutely sure that he would be justified, on April 15, 1670, boarded the "Maria" and, taking with him another ship of the OIC "Force", sailed to his homeland. Near the Cape of Good Hope, the ships lost each other and traveled to France separately. The Force arrived at Port Louis on September 10, 1670. "Maria" returned to Madagascar and stayed there until November 1670, until another French squadron appeared in Fort Dauphine, which was carrying the new Viceroy of French India.

On February 9, 1671, Mondeverg finally sailed home. July 22 "Maria" anchored in the roads of the Groix (Islands of the Cardinals in Brittany). The marquis, who had landed on the shore, was arrested in the name of the king by the lieutenant of the musketeers, La Grange. The accused was escorted to the castle of Saumur, where he died on January 23, 1672.

Time to collect stones

Immediately after the departure of the Mondeverg expedition, the shareholders of the company began to count the losses. The directors noted that they spent considerable sums on arming and supplying the expeditions with goods, and the return was not visible. The mistrust was so general that 78,333 livres were collected with difficulty instead of the planned 2,100,000. And at this critical moment came one after another bad news. First, the death of the Vierge de Beaune-Por ship entered into a stupor of shareholders, then news came from Brazil, where the unprivate Mondeverg had been brought. Meanwhile, the year 1666 was approaching, and with it the payment of the third installment by the shareholders.

The directors collectively sent a petition to Louis XIV asking for the company to be declared bankrupt. The case could only be saved by new investments from the king. Louis provided the money. According to the financial statements for February 1667, the total expenditure of the company amounted to 4,991,000 livres, while the shareholders contributed only 3,196,730 livres. Thus, the OIC had a deficit of 1,794,270 livres, which made it difficult to pay the salaries of the company's employees and pay off suppliers.

The company's tangible assets at that time were 18 ships in India and 12 ships in France, as well as 7 ships under construction. Besides -

600 thousand livres in Spanish reals in Port Louis;
250,000 livres in goods at Port-Louis and Le Havre;
60,000 feet of rope and rigging parts at Le Havre;
473,000 poundsraw hemp;
100 anchors of different weights;
229 guns of various calibers;
72,560 alder logs;
289 masts in different French ports.

The king, having familiarized himself with the state of affairs of the OIC, gathered the shareholders for an audience, where he persuaded them to go further. “You can’t give up halfway through. I, as one of the shareholders, also incur losses, but with such assets we can try to get our money back.. However, at the beginning of 1668, even the king began to have doubts about the correctness of the chosen path.

French latifundia in the colonies

Finally, on March 20, 1668, news came from Karon, who reported that the first expedition had successfully reached India, trade was quite successful, and the average rate of return on transactions was 60%. The letter also spoke about the situation in Madagascar and the measures taken by Mondeverg to improve the situation. This news served as an incentive for the king to invest another 2 million livres in the business, which saved the company from bankruptcy and allowed the shareholders to close their most pressing debts.

At the same time, Louis had a serious talk with Colbert about the future financing of the company. The king recalled that he had already invested more than 7 million livres in the business, and in five years they had not received any, even the smallest profit. Louis quite reasonably asked - does it make sense to keep the devastated Fort Dauphine, which does not bring any profit? Maybe it makes sense to move the colony directly to Surat? This conversation made Colbert a the assembly of shareholders of the company to recognize that "The colonization of Madagascar was a mistake".

Finally, on March 12, 1669, the long-awaited "Saint-Jean-de-Baptiste" came to the port-Louis raid. According to reports, the total value of the goods brought was 2,796,650 livres, of which 84,000 were paid as excise duties, and 10 percent the king deigned to pay to the shareholders as profits of the enterprise.

This event provoked a sharp increase in those wishing to join the ranks of shareholders, more money was collected in three months than in the previous 5 years. Now the merchants praised the foresight of Colbert and the king, the money flowed like a river. There were many willing to risk their capital for the sake of trade with the East.

Afterword. Founding of Lorian

Back in June of the same year, the king, by his rescript, allowed the company's ships to be located in Port-Louis, at the mouth of the Charente. In the vicinity of this city were warehouses that belonged to the company de La Melliere. Colbert managed to buy them back for 120,000 livres, of which 20,000 livres went to the shareholders, who by that time had gone bankrupt, and 100,000 to the head of the company, the Duke of Mazarin. The latter was also invited to become a preferred shareholder of the new company.

The sandy shore provided by the OIC formed a kind of peninsula that jutted out into the sea. On its right bank, at the insistence of Colbert, a shipyard was founded, on a high cape that prevented the Charente and Blavet from merging into one river, an arsenal and several coastal batteries were located.

Lorian, 1678

Danny Langlois, one of CEOs company, was sent to Port-Louis and the eastern warehouses to take them under the arm of the OIC. This was strongly opposed by the local lords - Prince Gemene and Seneschal Paul du Vergy d'Henebon, but with the help of Colbert, Langlois managed to negotiate with them, paying compensation in 1207 pistoles. On August 31, Messire Denis, on behalf of the company, solemnly took possession of the new lands. The shipyards were built very quickly, already in 1667 the first 180-ton ship was launched, this ship was considered as the first experience. According to Colbert's plans, the company needed to build a dozen ships with a displacement of 500 to 1000 tons.

The name of the new city - Lorian - appeared later, around 1669. Until that time, the place owned by the digging was called "lie l'Oryan" (East place) or "l'Oryan de Port-Louis" (that is, the eastern Port-Louis).

The site reviewer studied the history of the trading British East India Company, which practically seized control of India, became famous for robberies and abuses, and also made the British Empire one of the most powerful countries in the world.

The British East India Company, like its Dutch East India Company, was effectively a state within a state. Having its own army and actively influencing the development of the British Empire, it became one of the most important factors in the brilliant financial position states. The company allowed the British to create a colonial empire, which included the pearl of the British crown - India.

Founding of the British East India Company

The British East India Company was founded by Queen Elizabeth I. After winning the war with Spain and defeating the Invincible Armada, she decided to seize control of the trade in spices and other goods brought from the East. The official founding date of the British East India Company is December 31, 1600.

For a long time it was called the English East India Company, and became British in the early 18th century. Among its 125 shareholders was Queen Elizabeth I. The total capital was 72 thousand pounds. The Queen issued a charter granting the company monopoly trade with the East for 15 years, and James I made the charter indefinite.

The English company was founded before the Dutch counterpart, but its shares went public later. Until 1657, after each successful expedition, income or goods were divided among the shareholders, after which it was necessary to invest again in a new journey. The company was led by a council of 24 people and a governor-general. The English of that time had perhaps the best navigators in the world. Relying on her captains, Elizabeth could hope for success.

In 1601, the first expedition to the Spice Islands was led by James Lancaster. The navigator achieved his goals: he conducted several trade deals and opened a trading post in Bantam, and after returning he received the title of knight. From the trip, he brought mostly pepper, which was not uncommon, so the first expedition is considered not very profitable.

Thanks to Lancaster, the British East India Company had a rule to carry out prophylaxis against scurvy. According to legend, Sir James made the sailors on his ship drink three tablespoons of lemon juice every day. Soon other ships noticed that the crew of the Lancaster Sea Dragon was less sick and began to do the same. The custom spread to the entire fleet and became another hallmark of the sailors who served in the company. There is a version that Lancaster forced the crew of his ship to drink lemon juice with ants.

There were several more expeditions, and information about them is contradictory. Some sources speak of failures - others, on the contrary, report successes. It can be said for sure that until 1613 the British were mainly engaged in piracy: the profit was almost 300%, but the local population chose the Dutch from two evils, who tried to colonize the region.

Most of the English goods were of no interest to the local population: they did not need dense fabric and sheep's wool in a hot climate. In 1608, the British first came to India, but mainly robbed merchant ships there and sold the resulting goods.

This could not continue for a long time, so in 1609 the company's management sent Sir William Hawkins to India, who was supposed to enlist the support of Padishah Jahangir. Hawkins knew Turkish well and liked the padishah very much. Thanks to his efforts, as well as the arrival of ships under the command of Best, the company was able to establish a trading post in Surat.

At the insistence of Jahangir, Hawkins remained in India and soon received a title and a wife. There is an interesting legend about this: Hawkins allegedly agreed to marry only a Christian woman, secretly hoping that they would not find a suitable girl. Jahangir, to everyone's surprise, found a Christian princess in the bride, and even with a dowry - the Englishman had nowhere to go.