AP World History: Impact Of The Dutch East India Company

On the 31st of December in the year 1600, ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’ received a Royal Charter to be England’s trading representative in India. By they early part of the 17th Century, Britain had already eclipsed Portuguese interests in India. The company bought in cotton, silk, indigo, opium, saltpeter and tea mainly in exchange for silver bullion. These were valuable commodities in Britain at that time. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India.

In the Indian ocean from 650 C.E. and 1750 C.E. there have been many continuities in commerce. One such continuity was the goods traded. For

This marked the first “debut” of America’s international stage. Yankee traders exchanged Appalachian ginseng, frontier furs, and Mexican silver for highly coveted porcelains, teas, silks- the luxury goods from China. America’s “founding” European fathers and mothers crafted their elite identities with the purchase with the purchase of the latest, most stylish of these goods. Overland and by coastal sea routes, Canton and the Pearl River Delta region was global center for these coveted luxury goods. Craft production centers and tea producers met the deeds of all corners of the world. European ships of kings and queens lined up to trade with Chinese merchant princes. The balance of trade was decidedly in China’s favor. From Salem to Baltimore, port merchants serving as middlemen in the China trade turned great profits, giving rise to America’s first generation of

The Dutch East India Company- The Dutch East India Company or the VOC was established on March 20, 1602. The VOC was not only in charge of trading but also of colonization. Many countries suffered from the VOC’s power such as South Africa. In 1649,

The BEIC were granted exclusive control over trade with East India and thus dominated trade in the East. During 1620 the BEIC were constructing and maintaining ships to a mass combined total of 10,000 tons. By 1637 they began to lease ships, instead of constructing

In 1600s, the Dutch East India Company sought to dominate trade in South East Asia, to no avail. These European men settled there, but the company’s morale was low. Not many Dutch women wanted to

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the demand for Chinese goods in the European market created a trade imbalance because the market for Western goods in China were non-existent; China was very self-sufficient with their produce and tools that they didn’t require imported goods.(Fitzgerald, 1992 The Europeans were not allowed access into China 's interior market, the Chinese people didn’t have a necessity of imported items. European silver flowed into China when the Canton System, established in the mid-18th century, confined the sea trade to Canton and to the Chinese merchants of the Thirteen Factories. (Hanes, 2003) The British East India Company had a monopoly of British trade. The British East India Company began to auction opium grown in India to independent foreign traders in exchange for silver. (Hughs, 1972) The opium was then transported to the Chinese coast and sold to local middlemen who retailed the drug inside China. The flow of silver was increasing in numbers as well as the amount of opium addicts that had alarmed Chinese officials. (Lim, 2011) The drug weakened a large percentage of the population, and silver began to flow out of the country to pay for the opium. Many of the economic problems China faced later were either directly or indirectly traced to the opium trade. (Keller, 2012)

“India’s production of tea has increased from 10.8% to 90.13% since the British East India Company started production in Calcutta, India over 35 years ago.” According to “India Tea News”, the British East India Company dramatically increased the production of tea in India in response to Qing China’s monopoly in the tea industry. During the 19th century, the British East India Company was focused on controlling India, political and military gains in India, and trade of spices and opium (Mohan). While the British East India Company was colonizing India and reaping the rewards, the British colonists were introduced to different aspects of tea and cooking styles from native Indians and Qing China (Liu). Soon after, the British colonists adopted the ideals/practices of trading/brewing tea from Qing China. Since the British were introduced to different types of tea, the demand had increased and thus prompted the British East India Company to intervene (Mohan). This paper argues that Qing China struck fear in the British East India Company which forced the company to use cultural imperialism throughout India and Europe during the 1840s-1890s.

The British East Indian Company or East Indian Company took place during the early 1600’s all the way through the mid 1860’s. With the thought of money and control on Queen Elizabeth’s mind she had to find new items to trade and someone who is willing to trade with them so Europe could be successful. However in this age, Europe has seen its “collapse of empires and the state’s economics might, and such interpretations of English Overseas expansion are now considered inadequate” (Lawson, 15), and so many of the successful companies are a little concerned if they should do business. A former writer by the name of Richard Hakluyt didn’t see this as a stopping point. He “ believed that England’s future survival and greatness as a nation lie in the developing of a colonial and trading empire overseas” (Lawson 13). Hakluyt saw this as an opportunity and decided to

The British East India Company (EIC) was established to create trade with countries in the East Indies. India offered many goods to foreign traders. They offered skills in weaving cloth and winding raw silk. They also exported agricultural products, such as sugar and opium. During the first half of the 18th century, the EIC trade was stable and profitable. The administration, in London, that engaged the Company’s affairs could not

Before the union of 1707, trading for Scotland was an extremely difficult task. Between the years of 1670 and 1707, Scotland had seen the rise and fall of the company of Scotland and Darien colony. The company of Scotland had been given royal consent towards the end of the 17th century, in 1695. The company’s purpose was to provide Scotland with trade to Africa and the Indies; however, the

The Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or The Dutch East India Company, was the first multinational corporation in history (Shorto 103). In the interest of conserving space, the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie will be shortened to the VOC in this paper. Founded in 1602, the VOC was primarily a trading company, but also had the power to declare wars, create colonies, and negotiate treaties (Briney). The VOC’s massive reach across the globe and its ability to transport large quantities of goods caused entire populations to rely on foreign trade to survive (Shorto 104). Even Japan, who had a general policy of refusing foreign trade, allowed the VOC to trade with them for two centuries

British involvement on the Indian subcontinent began early in the 17th Century through the British East India Company and its business ventures and dealings. The early British Empire was composed of several self-governing colonies which had been settled in by British civilians, and colonial policy was one of “salutary neglect” (Brown 2010). It is not unfair to say that Britain’s relationship with India was one of political subordination, but economic exploitation formed the core of this relationship. The colonisation of India by the British Empire was clearly geared to benefit the mother country, even at the cost of the colony (Modern India 2010).

When most people think of the British East India Company, they think of tea, but the English trading group was so much more. The state-backed company used game-changing policies in their business with India and other countries that interacted with Great Britain. While the Company was wildly successful in many of those ventures, they were also involved in many important political events of their time. The British East India Company’s innovative policies and practices, such as their achievements in trade, their adaption of inventive business customs, and their aid in the success of the British Empire, have shaped the way that business is conducted in the modern world.

Dutch colonization took hold of one of the largest producers of spice in the world Indonesia and its entire supply of spice. The Dutch controlled the global spice market by controlling the amount of spice produced to increasing demand in Europe causing the price of spice to increase to make the maximum amount of profit effectively monopolizing it through force “numerous trade routes were developed with neighbouring countries” (Wright Par 4)