In
1600, Queen Elizabeth I chartered the East India Company for trade with Asia.
Its original aim was to enter the spice market. Wealthy merchants and
aristocrats owned it and the government had only indirect control of it. Over
the next few hundred years, the British East India Company (EIC) established a
gigantic trade empire based on cotton, tea and opium.
The coat of arms of the EIC
http://bhoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/HST165/09.Qianlong.html
It
all started when the EIC defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Swally in
1612.This led to the EIC’s gradual hold of India creating new trading ports and
obtaining a monopoly of trade. As the EIC acquired more Indian territory, it
established cotton factories in the mainland for a cheap price and then
imported the products back to England. In 1625, the EIC was importing more than
220,000 pieces of cotton. The Indian cotton and calicoes had immediate success
and no competition until the end of the 18th century, therefore
allowing the EIC to make very large profits and grow as a powerful organization.
The EIC in India
http://history.howstuffworks.com/asian-history/east-india-company.htm
The
EIC had been very successful with calicoes in Europe and started to build
another branch of its trade empire in the 1600s based on tea whose demand was
rapidly increasing. It eventually replaced cotton as calicoes trade started to
decline during the second half of the 18th century. In 1644, the EIC
was given permission to establish a trading base in Amoy in China. However the
Chinese would only trade tea for silver. Finding such big amounts of silver was
very difficult for the EIC that consequently decided to indirectly trade opium
for silver.
Unloading tea ships in the EIC's docks in London
http://www.maritimeheritage.org/newtale/opium.html
In 1772, Hastings, the
first governor general of India, established a monopoly, which gave an
exclusive right to the EIC to purchase opium from the Bengal. The EIC would
then sell it to private merchants even though the company knew that those
merchants would illegally sell the opium to the Chinese. This trade however granted
enough money for the EIC to buy silver. It lasted for a few decades until China
whose population was getting more and more addicted to opium, got alarmed and
started to restrict tea imports. The EIC however wanted to legalize the opium
trade. This led to the two opium wars, which eventually allowed the legalization
of the opium trade in 1860.
The British destroying the Chinese ships during the first Opium War
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opium_wars_01/ow1_essay03.html
During this time, the
EIC sent the plant hunter Robert Fortune to China to obtain tea and other
plants. In 1851, he successfully brought back tea seeds to India as well as the
equipment necessary to manufacture it. As a result, the EIC did not need to
rely on China anymore. Soon after however, in 1874, the East India Stock
Dividend Redemption Act of 1873 dissolved the company, after a long, unique and
prosperous reign.
Relevant sites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opium_wars_01/ow1_essay03.html
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