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135-637: Built as a hospital by the Dutch, it has been used for several different purposes, over the years. It is believed to have existed since 1681, as recorded by German Christoper Schweitzer. The Dutch established the Colombo hospital to look after the health of the officers and other staff serving under the Dutch East India Company . The hospital's close proximity to the harbour allowed it to serve Dutch seafarers. Most patients were provided with

270-581: A fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck had been the first Dutch fleet to reach the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku (also known as the Moluccas), cutting out the Javanese middlemen. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and the expedition made a 400 percent profit. In 1600, the Dutch joined forces with the Muslim Hituese on Ambon Island in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which

405-653: A Dutch ship. The Cambodians defeated the VOC in the Cambodian–Dutch War from 1643 to 1644 on the Mekong River. In 1640, the VOC obtained the port of Galle , Ceylon , from the Portuguese and broke the latter's monopoly of the cinnamon trade. In 1658, Gerard Pietersz Hulft laid siege to Colombo , which was captured with the help of King Rajasinghe II of Kandy . By 1659, the Portuguese had been expelled from

540-469: A capital of 6,440,200 guilders , the new company's charter empowered it to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties with Asian rulers. It provided for a venture that would continue for 21 years, with a financial accounting only at the end of each decade. In February 1603, the company seized the Santa Catarina , a 1500-ton Portuguese merchant carrack , off the coast of Singapore. She

675-433: A large capital 'V' with an O on the left and a C on the right half and was possibly the first globally recognised corporate logo . It appeared on various corporate items, such as cannons and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the chamber conducting the operation was placed on top. The monogram, versatility, flexibility, clarity, simplicity, symmetry, timelessness, and symbolism are considered notable characteristics of

810-549: A large share of its profits to this end in the period up to 1630. The VOC traded throughout Asia, benefiting mainly from Bengal . Ships coming into Batavia from the Netherlands carried supplies for VOC settlements in Asia. Silver and copper from Japan were used to trade with the world's wealthiest empires, Mughal India and Qing China , for silk, cotton, porcelain, and textiles. These products were either traded within Asia for

945-514: A licence from the company were liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo (half of which would go to the Crown and half to the company), as well as imprisonment at the "royal pleasure." The charter named Thomas Smythe as the first governor of the company, and 24 directors (including James Lancaster) or "committees", who made up a Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to a Court of Proprietors, who appointed them. Ten committees reported to

1080-427: A mat, while the most ill were given a mattress. Patients clothing was imported from Tuticorin , India . The surgeon with the longest service at the Colombo hospital was Alleman. Alleman sought to improve conditions at the hospital, including increasing provisions. The most famous of all the surgeons who worked in the Colombo hospital was undoubtedly Paul Hermann, who served from 1672-79. Herman has been described as

1215-702: A monopoly on East Indies trade. In 1620, diplomatic agreements in Europe ushered in a period of collaboration between the Dutch and English spice trades. This ended with the notorious Amboyna massacre , where ten Englishmen were arrested, tried and beheaded for conspiracy against the Dutch government. Although this caused outrage in Europe and a diplomatic crisis, the English quietly withdrew from most of their Indonesian activities (except trading in Banten) and focused on other Asian interests. In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen

1350-463: A new era of an abundant supply of capital at low interest rates suddenly opened around this time. The second factor enabled the company easily to finance its expansion in the new areas of commerce. Between the 1680s and 1720s, the VOC was therefore able to equip and man an appreciable expansion of its fleet, and acquire a large amount of precious metals to finance the purchase of large amounts of Asian commodities, for shipment to Europe. The overall effect

1485-516: A private fleet of 200 ships. It specialised in the spice trade and gave its shareholders 40% annual dividend. The British East India Company was fiercely competitive with the Dutch and French throughout the 17th and 18th centuries over spices from the Spice Islands . Some spices, at the time, could only be found on these islands, such as nutmeg and cloves; and they could bring profits as high as 400 per cent from one voyage. The tension

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1620-421: A quarter of the initial shareholders were Zuid-Nederlanders (people from an area that includes modern Belgium and Luxembourg ), and there were also a few dozen Germans. The VOC had two types of shareholders: the participanten , who could be seen as non-managing members, and the 76 bewindhebbers (later reduced to 60) who acted as managing directors. This was the usual set-up for Dutch joint-stock companies at

1755-719: A relative of the Grand Mughal , though there is no evidence to suggest that it was his daughter and her retinue. The loot from the Ganj-i-Sawai had a total value between £325,000 and £600,000, including 500,000 gold and silver pieces, and has become known as the richest ship ever taken by pirates. When the news arrived in England it caused an outcry. To appease Aurangzeb, the East India Company promised to pay all financial reparations, while Parliament declared

1890-529: A return of some 5,000 per cent. Thus started an important element in the eastern design during the late sixteenth century. Soon after the Spanish Armada 's defeat in 1588, the captured Spanish and Portuguese ships and cargoes enabled English voyagers to travel the globe in search of riches. London merchants presented a petition to Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. The aim

2025-456: A single voyage and to be liquidated upon the return of the fleet. Investment in these expeditions was a very high-risk venture, not only because of the usual dangers of piracy, disease and shipwreck, but also because the interplay of inelastic demand and relatively elastic supply of spices could make prices tumble, thereby ruining prospects of profitability. To manage such risk, the forming of a cartel to control supply would seem logical. In 1600,

2160-452: A trade surplus with other European countries. Coen discovered the obvious solution for the problem: to start an intra-Asiatic trade system, whose profits could be used to finance the spice trade with Europe. In the long run this obviated the need for exports of precious metals from Europe, though at first it required the formation of a large trading-capital fund in the Indies. The VOC reinvested

2295-414: A trading post in the area and eventually to monopolise the trade there, especially the gold trade. By 1669, the VOC was the richest private company the world had ever seen, with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and a dividend payment of 40% on the original investment. Many of the VOC employees inter-mixed with the indigenous peoples and expanded

2430-729: A treaty of 1684 with the Sultan. Also, on the Coromandel Coast , it moved its chief stronghold from Pulicat to Nagapattinam , so as to secure a monopoly on the pepper trade to the detriment of the French and the Danes. However, the importance of these traditional commodities in the Asian-European trade was diminishing rapidly at the time. The military outlays that the VOC needed to make to enhance its monopoly were not justified by

2565-637: A young Mughal Prince as Emperor with the Company as the de jure protectors of the Empire from their position of direct control in Bengal. This relationship was repeatedly strained as the Company continued its expansion and exploitation, however it lasted in some form until 1858 when the last Mughal Emperor was exiled as the Company was disbanded and its assets were taken over by the British Crown. In 1634,

2700-575: Is used to make a distinction from the [British] East India Company (EIC) and other East Indian companies (such as the Danish East India Company , French East India Company , Portuguese East India Company , and the Swedish East India Company ). The company's alternative names that have been used include the 'Dutch East Indies Company', 'United East India Company', 'Jan Company', or 'Jan Compagnie'. Before

2835-697: The Fancy , reached the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb , where he teamed up with five other pirate captains to make an attack on the Indian fleet returning from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca . The Mughal convoy included the treasure-laden Ganj-i-Sawai , reported to be the greatest in the Mughal fleet and the largest ship operational in the Indian Ocean, and its escort, the Fateh Muhammed . They were spotted passing

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2970-603: The Amsterdam Stock Exchange ). The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins , and establish colonies. Also, because it traded across multiple colonies and countries from both the East and the West, the VOC is sometimes considered to have been the world's first multinational corporation . Statistically,

3105-482: The Central Bank bombing in 1996. In 2011, it has been transformed into a shopping and dining precinct, where the historic architecture has been preserved. The building reflects seventeenth-century Dutch colonial architecture. The building has five wings forming two courtyards. It is designed to keep out the heat and humidity and provide a comfortable environment within. Like many Colombo Dutch buildings of

3240-627: The Dutch East India Company , was a chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies , it was granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. Shares in the company could be purchased by any citizen of the United Provinces (Dutch Republic) and subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became

3375-556: The Dutch Republic was at war. The Portuguese Empire thus became an appropriate target for Dutch military incursions. These factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutch merchants and explorers, such as Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman , went on to obtain firsthand knowledge of the "secret" Portuguese trade routes and practices that were already in place, thereby providing further opportunity for

3510-599: The Dutch Revolt , which began in 1566/68, the Flemish city of Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution center in northern Europe. After 1591, the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fugger family and Welser family , as well as Spanish and Italian firms, which operated out of Hamburg as the northern staple port to distribute their goods, thereby cutting Dutch merchants out of

3645-601: The English Company Trading to the East Indies ) was floated under a state-backed indemnity of £2 million. The powerful stockholders of the old company quickly subscribed a sum of £315,000 in the new concern, and dominated the new body. The two companies wrestled with each other for some time, both in England and in India, for a dominant share of the trade. It quickly became evident that, in practice,

3780-682: The First Opium War in 1839, which involved a succession of British naval attacks along the Chinese coast over the course of several months. As part of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Qing were forced to give British merchants special treatment and the right to sell opium. The Chinese also ceded territory to the British, including the island of Hong Kong . The prosperity that the officers of

3915-624: The Heeren XVII (the Lords Seventeen). They were selected from the bewindhebber -class of shareholders. Of the Heeren XVII , eight delegates were from the Chamber of Amsterdam (one short of a majority on its own), four from the Chamber of Zeeland, and one from each of the smaller Chambers, while the seventeenth seat was alternatively from the Chamber of Middelburg-Zeeland or rotated among the five small Chambers. Amsterdam had thereby

4050-604: The Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde at Leiden , in the Netherlands. These show that the building has changed little. The original landscaping has disappeared. 6°56′01″N 79°50′37″E  /  6.93356°N 79.84356°E  / 6.93356; 79.84356 Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( Dutch : Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie [vərˈeːnɪɣdə ʔoːstˈɪndisə kɔmpɑˈɲi] ; abbreviated as VOC [veː(j)oːˈseː] ), commonly known as

4185-627: The Malabar and Coromandel coasts in India. Direct access to mainland China came in 1729 when a factory was established in Canton . In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan ( see History of Taiwan ). In 1663, the VOC signed the "Painan Treaty" with several local lords in the Painan area that were revolting against the Aceh Sultanate . The treaty allowed the VOC to build

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4320-887: The Malay Peninsula , they preyed on Spanish and Portuguese ships there before returning to England in 1594. The biggest prize that galvanised English trade was the seizure of a large Portuguese carrack , the Madre de Deus , by Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Cumberland at the Battle of Flores on 13 August 1592. When she was brought in to Dartmouth she was the largest vessel ever seen in England and she carried chests of jewels, pearls, gold, silver coins, ambergris , cloth, tapestries, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, benjamin (a highly aromatic balsamic resin used for perfumes and medicines), red dye, cochineal and ebony. Equally valuable

4455-741: The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 , the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of present-day Bangladesh, Pakistan and India in the form of the new British Indian Empire . The company subsequently experienced recurring problems with its finances, despite frequent government intervention. The company was dissolved in 1874 under the terms of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act enacted one year earlier, as

4590-653: The Straits of Malacca by ousting the Portuguese in 1640–1641. With reduced Portuguese and Spanish influence in the region, the EIC and VOC entered a period of intense competition, resulting in the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. The British were also interested in trans-Himalayan trade routes, as they would create access to untapped markets for British manufactured goods in Tibet and China. This economic interest

4725-441: The 1770s in exchange for goods like porcelain and tea , causing a series of opioid addiction outbreaks across China in 1820. The ruling Qing dynasty outlawed the opium trade in 1796 and 1800, but British merchants continued illegally nonetheless. The Qing took measures to prevent the East India Company from selling opium, and destroyed tens of thousands of chests of opium already in the country. This series of events led to

4860-563: The Americas ; and several other sea-farers who had served with Drake and Raleigh. On 22 September, the group stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper)" and to themselves invest £30,133 (over £4,000,000 in today's money). Two days later, the "Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of

4995-717: The British state and the Royal Navy in the form of the West Africa Squadron , which discovered various ships had contained evidence of the illegal trade. In 1613, during the rule of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate , the British ship Clove , under the command of Captain John Saris , was the first English ship to call on Japan. Saris was the chief factor of the EIC's trading post in Java, and with

5130-780: The Court of Directors. By tradition, business was initially transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolph's church in Bishopsgate , before moving to East India House in Leadenhall Street . Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601 aboard Red Dragon . The following year, whilst sailing in the Malacca Straits , Lancaster took the rich 1,200 ton Portuguese carrack Sao Thome carrying pepper and spices. The booty enabled

5265-643: The Dutch East Indies for the first time in its history. After the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War , the VOC's financial issues worsened considerably. After vain attempts at reorganisation by the provincial States of Holland and Zeeland , the board of directors in the VOC were sacked in 1796 and the company's management was handed over to a Committee for Affairs relating to East India Trade and Possessions (Dutch: Comité tot de zaken van de Oost-Indische handel en bezittingen ). The VOC charter

5400-488: The Dutch captain's life on condition that he joined his army and trained his soldiers on modern lines. This defeat in the Travancore–Dutch War is considered the earliest example of an organised Asian power overcoming European military technology and tactics; and it signalled the decline of Dutch power in India. The attempt to continue as before as a low volume-high profit business enterprise with its core business in

5535-553: The Dutch to enter the trade. The stage was thus set for Dutch expeditions to the Indonesian islands , beginning with James Lancaster in 1591, Cornelis de Houtman in 1595 and again in 1598, Jacob Van Neck in 1598, Lancaster again in 1601, among others. During the four-ship exploratory expedition by Frederick de Houtman in 1595 to Banten , the main pepper port of West Java, the crew clashed with both Portuguese and indigenous Javanese. Houtman's expedition then sailed east along

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5670-539: The Dutch were given the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu. Dutch control of Ambon was achieved when the Portuguese surrendered their fort in Ambon to the Dutch-Hituese alliance. In 1613, the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from their Solor fort, but a subsequent Portuguese attack led to a second change of hands; following this second reoccupation, the Dutch once again captured Solor in 1636. East of Solor , on

5805-540: The Dutch. This compelled the company to formally abandon their efforts in the Spice Islands, and turn their attention to Bengal where, by this time, they were making steady, if less exciting, profits. After gaining the indifferent patronage of the Mughal Empire , whose cities were 'the megacities of their time' and whose wealth was unrivaled outside of Asia in the 17th Century, the Company's first century in

5940-430: The EIC surrendered in 1690, and the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb 's camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behaviour in the future. The emperor withdrew his troops, and the company subsequently re-established itself in Bombay and set up a new base in Calcutta. The East India Company's archives suggest its involvement in

6075-538: The East Indies, but implementation of this policy never materialised, mainly because very few Dutch were willing to emigrate to Asia. Another of Coen's ventures was more successful. A major problem in the European trade with Asia at the time was that the Europeans could offer few goods that Asian consumers wanted, except silver and gold. European traders therefore had to pay for spices with the precious metals, which were in short supply in Europe, except for Spain and Portugal. The Dutch and English had to obtain it by creating

6210-403: The English were the first to adopt this approach by bundling their resources into a monopoly enterprise, the English East India Company , thereby threatening their Dutch competitors with ruin. In 1602, the Dutch government followed suit, sponsoring the creation of a single "United East Indies Company" that was also granted monopoly over the Asian trade. For a time in the seventeenth century, it

6345-429: The English. In March 1604, Sir Henry Middleton commanded the company's second voyage . General William Keeling , a captain during the second voyage, led the third voyage aboard Red Dragon from 1607 to 1610 along with Hector under Captain William Hawkins and Consent under Captain David Middleton . Early in 1608, Alexander Sharpeigh was made captain of the company's Ascension , and general or commander of

6480-424: The Government of India Act had by then rendered it vestigial, powerless, and obsolete. The official government machinery of the British Empire had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. In 1577, Francis Drake set out on an expedition from England to plunder Spanish settlements in South America in search of gold and silver. Sailing in the Golden Hind he achieved this, and then sailed across

6615-430: The Indian Ocean. The company achieved a major victory over the Portuguese in the Battle of Swally in 1612, at Suvali in Surat . The company decided to explore the feasibility of a foothold in mainland India, with official sanction from both Britain and the Mughal Empire , and requested that the Crown launch a diplomatic mission. Company ships docked at Surat in Gujarat in 1608. The company's first Indian factory

6750-416: The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan extended his hospitality to the English traders to the richest region of the Mutual Empire Bengal , and in 1717 customs duties were completely waived for the English in Bengal. The company's mainstay businesses were by then cotton, silk, opium, indigo dye , saltpetre , and tea. The Dutch were aggressive competitors and had meanwhile expanded their monopoly of the spice trade in

6885-738: The Mughal-ruled areas was spent cultivating their relationship with the Mughal Dynasty, and conducting peaceful trade at great profit. At first it should be said the EIC was drawn into the Mughal system, acting as a kind of vassal to Mughal authority in present-day Bangladesh: from this position that the EIC would ultimately outplay and outmaneuver everyone else in the region, to eventually use that same system to hold power. What started as trading posts on undesirable land were developed into sprawling factory complexes with hundreds of workers sending exotic goods to England and managing protected points to export English finished goods to local merchants. The Company's initial rise in Bengal and successes generally came at

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7020-489: The Pacific Ocean in 1579, known then only to the Spanish and Portuguese. Drake eventually sailed into the East Indies and came across the Moluccas , also known as the Spice Islands, and met Sultan Babullah . In exchange for linen, gold, and silver, the English obtained a large haul of exotic spices, including cloves and nutmeg. Drake returned to England in 1580 and became a hero; his circumnavigation raised an enormous amount of money for England's coffers, and investors received

7155-404: The VOC by 1685. Even more importantly, the Third Anglo-Dutch War temporarily interrupted VOC trade with Europe. This caused a spike in the price of pepper, which enticed the English East India Company (EIC) to enter this market aggressively in the years after 1672. Previously, one of the tenets of the VOC pricing policy was to slightly over-supply the pepper market, so as to depress prices below

7290-428: The VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asian trade. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent nearly a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods and slaves. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent only 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795, and the fleet of the English (later British) East India Company , the VOC's nearest competitor,

7425-493: The VOC in the Dutch Republic , the VOC made extensive use of local Asian labour markets. As a result, the personnel of the various VOC offices in Asia consisted of European and Asian employees. Asian or Eurasian workers could be employed as sailors, soldiers, writers, carpenters, smiths, or as simple unskilled workers. At the height of its existence, the VOC had 25,000 employees who worked in Asia and 11,000 who were en route. Also, while most of its shareholders were Dutch, about

7560-453: The VOC mainly operated in what later became the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), the company also had important operations elsewhere. It employed people from different continents and origins in the same functions and working environments. Although it was a Dutch company, its employees included not only people from the Netherlands, but also many from Germany and other countries. Besides the diverse north-west European workforce recruited by

7695-408: The VOC tried to use military force to make Ming dynasty China open up to Dutch trade, the Chinese defeated the Dutch in a war over the Penghu islands from 1623 to 1624, forcing the VOC to abandon Penghu for Taiwan . The Chinese defeated the VOC again at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633. The Vietnamese Nguyen lords defeated the VOC in a 1643 battle during the Trịnh–Nguyễn War , blowing up

7830-448: The VOC's professionally designed logo. Those elements ensured its success at a time when the concept of the corporate identity was virtually unknown. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, having re-registered the company's name for the purpose. Around the world, and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the 'Dutch East India Company'. The name 'Dutch East India Company'

7965-421: The VOC's trade started in the early 1680s, after the temporary collapse of the EIC around 1683 offered an excellent opportunity to enter these markets. The actual cause for the change lies, however, in two structural features of this new era. In the first place, there was a revolutionary change in the tastes affecting European demand for Asian textiles, coffee and tea, around the turn of the 18th century. Secondly,

8100-508: The Zamorin was made to sign a treaty with the VOC undertaking to trade exclusively with the VOC and expel other European traders. For a brief time, this appeared to improve the company's prospects. However, in 1715, with EIC encouragement, the Zamorin renounced the treaty. Though a Dutch army managed to suppress this insurrection temporarily, the Zamorin continued to trade with the English and the French, which led to an appreciable upsurge in English and French traffic. The VOC decided in 1721 that it

8235-440: The adventurer Edward Michelborne , the nobleman William Cavendish and other aldermen and citizens. She granted her charter to their corporation named Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies . For a period of fifteen years, the charter awarded the company a monopoly on English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan . Any traders there without

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8370-812: The assistance of William Adams , an English sailor who had arrived in Japan in 1600, he was able to gain permission from the ruler to establish a commercial house in Hirado on the Japanese island of Kyushu : We give free license to the subjects of the King of Great Britaine, Sir Thomas Smythe, Governor and Company of the East Indian Merchants and Adventurers forever safely come into any of our ports of our Empire of Japan with their shippes and merchandise, without any hindrance to them or their goods, and to abide, buy, sell and barter according to their own manner with all nations, to tarry here as long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure. Unable to obtain Japanese raw silk for export to China, and with their trading area reduced to Hirado and Nagasaki from 1616 onwards,

8505-453: The beginnings of the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent . The company eventually came to rule large areas of the Indian subcontinent, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company-ruled areas in the region gradually expanded after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and by 1858 most of modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was either ruled by the company or princely states closely tied to it by treaty. Following

8640-409: The chaos widened and the stakes were raised. Ultimately, the company won out, generally through as much diplomacy and state-craft(fraud and deception). The gradual rise of the EIC within the Mughal network culminated in the Second Anglo-Maratha War , in which the Company successfully ousted the Empire's official protectors in the Maratha, the Maratha high water point in their rise to power, and installed

8775-452: The coast of China that helped secure EIC ports in China, independently attacking the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf Residencies primarily for political reasons. The company established trading posts in Surat (1619) and Madras (1639). By 1647, the company had 23 factories and settlements in India, and 90 employees. Many of the major factories became some of the most populated and commercially influential cities in Bengal, including

8910-532: The coastal regions, which were then occupied by the VOC, securing for it the monopoly over cinnamon. To prevent the Portuguese or the English from ever recapturing Sri Lanka , the VOC went on to conquer the entire Malabar Coast from the Portuguese, almost entirely driving them from the west coast of India. In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply outpost at the Cape of Storms (the southwestern tip of Africa, now Cape Town , South Africa) to service company ships on their journey to and from East Asia. The cape

9045-418: The company at this time therefore were not hopeless, had one of the plans for reform been undertaken successfully. However, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War intervened. British naval attacks in Europe and Asia reduced the VOC fleet by half; removed valuable cargo from its control; and eroded its remaining power in Asia. The direct losses of the VOC during the war can be calculated at 43 million guilders. Loans to keep

9180-428: The company closed its factory in 1623. The first of the Anglo-Indian wars occurred in 1686 when the company conducted naval operations against Shaista Khan , the governor of Mughal Bengal . This led to the siege of Bombay and the subsequent intervention of the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb . Subsequently, the English company was defeated and fined. In September 1695, Captain Henry Every , an English pirate on board

9315-522: The company enjoyed allowed them to return to Britain and establish sprawling estates and businesses, and to obtain political power, such as seats in the House of Commons. Ship captains sold their appointments to successors for up to £500. As recruits aimed to return to Britain wealthy by securing Indian money, their loyalties to their homeland increased. The company developed a lobby in the English parliament. Pressure from ambitious tradesmen and former company associates (pejoratively termed Interlopers by

9450-458: The company operating reduced its net assets to zero. From 1720 on, the market for sugar from Indonesia declined as the competition from cheap sugar from Brazil increased. European markets became saturated. Dozens of Chinese sugar traders went bankrupt, which led to massive unemployment, which in turn led to gangs of unemployed coolies . The Dutch government in Batavia did not adequately respond to these problems. In 1740, rumours of deportation of

9585-505: The company's factories in India and imprison their officers, who were almost lynched by a mob of angry Mughals , blaming them for their countryman's depredations, and threatened to put an end to all English trading in India. To appease Emperor Aurangzeb and particularly his Grand Vizier Asad Khan , Parliament exempted Every from all of the Acts of Grace (pardons) and amnesties it would subsequently issue to other pirates. The East India Company started selling opium to Chinese merchants in

9720-401: The company's overhead rose in step with the growth in trade volume; declining gross margins translated directly into a decline in profitability of the invested capital. The era of expansion was one of "profitless growth". Specifically: "[t]he long-term average annual profit in the VOC's 1630–70 'Golden Age' was 2.1 million guilders, of which just under half was distributed as dividends and

9855-518: The company), who wanted to establish private trading firms in India, led to the passing of the deregulating act in 1694. This act allowed any English firm to trade with India, unless specifically prohibited by act of parliament, thereby annulling the charter that had been in force for almost 100 years. When the East India Company Act 1697 ( 9 Will. 3 . c. 44) was passed in 1697, a new "parallel" East India Company (officially titled

9990-400: The continent as they individually contended with others, steadily amassing more land and power in India to themselves. In the 18th Century, the primary source of the Company's profits in Bengal became taxation in conquered and controlled provinces, as the factories became fortresses and administrative hubs for networks of tax collectors that expanded into enormous cities. The Mughal Empire was

10125-432: The coveted spices or brought back to Europe. The VOC was also instrumental in introducing European ideas and technology to Asia. The company supported Christian missionaries and traded modern technology with China and Japan. A more peaceful VOC trade post on Dejima , an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki , was for more than two hundred years the only place where Europeans were permitted to trade with Japan . When

10260-591: The decisive voice. The Zeelanders in particular had misgivings about this arrangement at the beginning. The fear was not unfounded, because in practice it meant Amsterdam stipulated what happened. The six chambers raised the start-up capital of the Dutch East India Company: East India Company The East India Company ( EIC ) (1600–1874) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It

10395-482: The deterioration of revenues. To a large extent the costs of the operation of the VOC had a "fixed" character (military establishments; maintenance of the fleet and such). Profit levels might therefore have been maintained if the increase in the scale of trading operations that in fact took place had resulted in economies of scale . However, though larger ships transported the growing volume of goods, labour productivity did not go up sufficiently to realise these. In general

10530-428: The era, the walls are 50 cm thick. The structure features massive teak beams. The upper floor is located in the front wing and can be reached with a wooded staircase. This upper storey has a wooden floor. A long open veranda runs along the length of each wing of the building. Paintings of the front and rear views of the Colombo hospital, done in 1771 by a Dutch artist—presumably Johannes Rach—are preserved in

10665-480: The expense of competing European powers through the art of currying favors and well-placed bribes, as the company was matched at every step with French expansion in the region (whose equivalent company carried substantial royal support). See French East India Company . Throughout the entire century the company only resorted to force against the Mughals once, with terrible consequences. The Anglo-Mughal war (1686–1690)

10800-666: The father of botany in Sri Lanka. Paintings from the era show that it once had a canal running along what is now Canal Row lane. This canal was filled in by British colonists after their capture of the city. The building was the Colombo Fort Police Station from the early 1980s to 1990s, prior to which it housed the Colombo Apothecaries. It suffered heavy damage in the LTTE attack that followed

10935-597: The fortunes of the VOC started to decline. Five major contributing factors are attributed to its decay in the 50 years between 1730 and 1780: Despite these problems, the VOC in 1780 remained an enormous operation. Its capital in the Republic, consisting of ships and goods in inventory, totalled 28 million guilders; its capital in Asia, consisting of the liquid trading fund and goods en route to Europe, totalled 46 million guilders. Total capital, net of outstanding debt, stood at 62 million guilders. The prospects of

11070-502: The fourth voyage. Thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union (captained by Richard Rowles), sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1608. This expedition was lost. Initially, the company struggled in the spice trade because of competition from the well-established Dutch East India Company . This rivalry led to military skirmishes, with each company establishing fortified trading posts, fleets, and alliances with local rulers. The Dutch, better financed and supported by their government, gained

11205-520: The gangs from the Batavia area led to widespread rioting. The Dutch military searched houses of Chinese in Batavia for weapons. When a house accidentally burnt down, military and impoverished citizens started slaughtering and pillaging the Chinese community. This massacre of the Chinese was deemed sufficiently serious for the board of the VOC to start an official investigation into the Government of

11340-651: The imperial patronage, soon expanded its commercial trading operations. It eclipsed the Portuguese Estado da Índia , which had established bases in Goa , Chittagong , and Bombay ; Portugal later ceded Bombay to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to King Charles II . The East India Company also launched a joint attack with the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) on Portuguese and Spanish ships off

11475-596: The increased profits of this declining trade. Nevertheless, this lesson was slow to sink in and at first the VOC made the strategic decision to improve its military position on the Malabar Coast (hoping thereby to curtail English influence in the area, and end the drain on its resources from the cost of the Malabar garrisons) by using force to compel the Zamorin of Calicut to submit to Dutch domination. In 1710,

11610-480: The interim could only do this by selling their share to others on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange . Confusion of confusions , a 1688 dialogue by the Sephardi Jew Joseph de la Vega analysed the workings of this one-stock exchange. The VOC consisted of six Chambers ( Kamers ) in port cities: Amsterdam , Delft , Rotterdam , Enkhuizen , Middelburg and Hoorn . Delegates of these chambers convened as

11745-527: The island of Timor , Dutch advances were halted by an autonomous and powerful group of Portuguese Eurasians called the Topasses . They remained in control of the Sandalwood trade and their resistance lasted throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, causing Portuguese Timor to remain under the Portuguese sphere of control. At the time, it was customary for a company to be funded only for the duration of

11880-776: The late 18th century, the company went bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1799. Its possessions and debt were taken over by the government of the Dutch Batavian Republic . In Dutch, the name of the company was the Vereenigde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie (abbreviated as the VOC), literally the 'United Dutch Chartered East India Company' (the United East India Company). The company's monogram logo consisted of

12015-496: The latter came close to bankruptcy; its share price plummeted from 600 to 250; and its president Josiah Child was temporarily forced from office. However, the writing was on the wall. Other companies, like the French East India Company and the Danish East India Company also started to make inroads on the Dutch system. The VOC therefore closed the theretofore flourishing open pepper emporium of Bantam by

12150-500: The latter period, 3.4 percent." Nevertheless, in the eyes of investors the VOC did not do too badly. The share price hovered consistently around the 400 mark from the mid-1680s (excepting a hiccup around the Glorious Revolution in 1688), and they reached an all-time high of around 642 in the 1720s. VOC shares then yielded a return of 3.5 percent, only slightly less than the yield on Dutch government bonds. After 1730,

12285-405: The level where interlopers were encouraged to enter the market (instead of striving for short-term profit maximisation ). The wisdom of such a policy was illustrated when a fierce price war with the EIC ensued, as that company flooded the market with new supplies from India. In this struggle for market share, the VOC (which had much larger financial resources) could wait out the EIC. Indeed, by 1683,

12420-432: The next two centuries the company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory. It remained an important trading concern and paid annual dividends that averaged to about 18% of the capital for almost 200 years. Much of the labor that built its colonies was from people it had enslaved. Weighed down by smuggling, corruption and growing administrative costs in

12555-542: The north coast of Java , losing twelve crew members to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura . Half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit. In 1598, an increasing number of fleets were sent out by competing merchant groups from around the Netherlands. Some fleets were lost, but most were successful, with some voyages producing high profits. In 1598,

12690-402: The original company faced scarcely any measurable competition. The companies merged in 1708, by a tripartite indenture involving both companies and the state, with the charter and agreement for the new United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies being awarded by Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin . Under this arrangement, the merged company lent a sum of £3,200,000 to

12825-556: The pirates hostis humani generis ("the enemy of humanity"). In mid-1696 the government issued a £500 bounty on Every's head and offered a free pardon to any informer who disclosed his whereabouts. The first worldwide manhunt in recorded history was underway. The plunder of Aurangzeb's treasure ship had serious consequences for the English East India Company. The furious Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Sidi Yaqub and Nawab Daud Khan to attack and close four of

12960-573: The population of Indos in pre-colonial history . Around 1670, two events caused the growth of VOC trade to stall. In the first place, the highly profitable trade with Japan started to decline. The loss of the outpost on Formosa to Koxinga in the 1662 siege of Fort Zeelandia and related internal turmoil in China (where the Ming dynasty was being replaced with the China's Qing dynasty ) brought an end to

13095-409: The power of the EIC, King Charles II granted the EIC (in a series of five acts around 1670) the rights to autonomous territorial acquisitions, to mint money, to command fortresses and troops and form alliances, to make war and peace, and to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the acquired areas. In 1689, a Mughal fleet commanded by Sidi Yaqub attacked Bombay. After a year of resistance

13230-445: The pre-1707 Mughal fiefs and holdings, with their capital Delhi routinely under the control of Maratha, Afghan, or usurper generals' armies. The EIC was able to take advantage of this chaos, slowly assuming direct control of the province of Bengal , and fighting numerous wars against the French for control of the east coast. The Company's position in the Mughal court as it fell apart made it possible to sponsor various powerful people on

13365-506: The project. Although their first attempt had not been completely successful, they sought the Queen's unofficial approval to continue. They bought ships for the venture and increased their investment to £68,373. They convened again a year later, on 31 December 1600, and this time they succeeded; the Queen responded favourably to a petition by George, Earl of Cumberland and 218 others, including James Lancaster, Sir John Harte , Sir John Spencer (both of whom had been Lord Mayor of London ),

13500-456: The region's battlefields for a thousand years, with cannon so well integrated that the Mughals fought with cannon mounted on elephants; all were no match to line infantry with decent discipline supported with field cannon. Repeatedly, a few thousand company sepoys fought vastly larger Mughal forces numerically and came out victorious. Afghan, Mughal, and Maratha factions started creating their own European-style forces, often with French equipment, as

13635-408: The remainder reinvested. The long-term average annual profit in the 'Expansion Age' (1680–1730) was 2.0 million guilders, of which three-quarters was distributed as dividend and one-quarter reinvested. In the earlier period, profits averaged 18 percent of total revenues; in the latter period, 10 percent. The annual return of invested capital in the earlier period stood at approximately 6 percent; in

13770-459: The richest in the world in 1700, and the East India Company tried to strip it bare for a century thereafter. Dalrymple calls it "the single largest transfer of wealth until the Nazis." What was in the 17th century the production capital of the world for textiles was forced to become a market for British-made textiles. Statues, jewels, and various other valuables were moved from the palaces of Bengal to

13905-499: The risk of despotic governors-general, a Council of the Indies ( Raad van Indië ) was created. The governor-general effectively became the main administrator of the VOC's activities in Asia, although the Heeren XVII , a body of 17 shareholders representing different chambers, continued to officially have overall control. VOC headquarters were located in Ambon during the tenures of the first three governors-general (1610–1619), but it

14040-420: The silk trade after 1666. Though the VOC substituted Mughal Bengal 's for Chinese silk, other forces affected the supply of Japanese silver and gold. The shogunate enacted a number of measures to limit the export of these precious metals, in the process limiting VOC opportunities for trade, and severely worsening the terms of trade. Therefore, Japan ceased to function as the linchpin of the intra-Asiatic trade of

14175-546: The size of the British Army at certain times. Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies," the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton , silk , indigo dye , sugar , salt , spices , saltpetre , tea , and later, opium . The company also initiated

14310-597: The slave trade began in 1684, when a Captain Robert Knox was ordered to buy and transport 250 slaves from Madagascar to St. Helena . The East India Company began using and transporting slaves in Asia and the Atlantic in the early 1620s, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, or in 1621, according to Richard Allen. Eventually, the company ended the trade in 1834 after numerous legal threats from

14445-414: The spice trade had therefore failed. The company had however already (reluctantly) followed the example of its European competitors in diversifying into other Asian commodities, like tea, coffee, cotton, textiles, and sugar. These commodities provided a lower profit margin and therefore required a larger sales volume to generate the same amount of revenue. This structural change in the commodity composition of

14580-408: The straits en route to Surat . The pirates gave chase and caught up with the Fateh Muhammed some days later, and meeting little resistance, took some £40,000 of silver. Every continued in pursuit and managed to overhaul Ganj-i-Sawai , which resisted strongly before eventually striking . Ganj-i-Sawai carried enormous wealth and, according to contemporary East India Company sources, was carrying

14715-487: The time made this difficult to discern for the managers of the company, which may partly explain the mistakes they made from hindsight. This lack of information might have been counteracted (as in earlier times in the VOC's history) by the business acumen of the directors. By this time these were almost exclusively recruited from the political regent class, which had long since lost its close relationship with merchant circles. Low profit margins in themselves do not explain

14850-420: The time. The innovation in the case of the VOC was that the liability of not just the participanten but also of the bewindhebbers was limited to the paid-in capital (usually, bewindhebbers had unlimited liability). The VOC therefore was a limited liability company . Also, the capital would be permanent during the lifetime of the company. As a consequence, investors that wished to liquidate their interest in

14985-536: The townhouses of the English countryside. Bengal in particular suffered the worst of Company tax farming, highlighted by the Great Bengal famine of 1770 . The primary tool of expansion for the company was the Sepoy. The Sepoys were locally raised, mostly Muslim, soldiers with European training and equipment, who changed warfare in present-day South Asia. Mounted forces and their superior mobility had been king on

15120-589: The trade. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to increase supply to satisfy growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic ; therefore, each lag in the supply of pepper caused a sharp rise in pepper prices. In 1580, the Portuguese crown was united in a personal union with the Spanish crown (known as the Iberian Union ), with which

15255-540: The upper hand by establishing a stronghold in the spice islands (now Indonesia), enforcing a near-monopoly through aggressive policies that eventually drove the EIC to seek trade opportunities in India instead. The English company opened a factory (trading post) in Bantam on Java on its first voyage, and imports of pepper from Java remained an important part of the company's trade for twenty years. English traders frequently fought their Dutch and Portuguese counterparts in

15390-569: The voyagers to set up two " factories " (trading posts) – one at Bantam on Java and another in the Moluccas (Spice Islands) before leaving. On return to England in 1603, they learned of Elizabeth's death, but Lancaster was knighted by the new king, James I , on account of the voyage's success. By this time, the war with Spain had ended but the company had profitably breached the Spanish-Portuguese duopoly; new horizons opened for

15525-575: The walled forts of Fort William in Bengal, Fort St George in Madras, and Bombay Castle . The first century of the Company, despite its original profits coming primarily from piracy in the Spice Islands between competing European powers and their companies, saw the East India Company change focus after suffering a major setback in 1623 when their factory in Amboyna in the Moluccas was attacked by

15660-510: Was a complete defeat, ending when the EIC effectively swore fealty to the Mughals to get their factories back. The East India Company's fortunes changed for the better in 1707 when Bengal and other regions under Mughal rule fell into anarchy after the death of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb . A series of large-scale rebellions, and the collapse of the Mughal taxation system led to the effective independence of virtually all of

15795-488: Was a distant second to its total traffic with 2,690 ships and a mere one-fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly and slave trading activities through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602 to profit from the Malukan spice trade, the VOC established a capital in the port city of Jayakarta in 1619 and changed its name to Batavia (now Jakarta ). Over

15930-528: Was able to monopolise the trade in nutmeg, mace, and cloves and to sell these spices across European kingdoms and Emperor Akbar the Great's Mughal Empire at 14–17 times the price it paid in Indonesia ; While Dutch profits soared, the local economy of the Spice Islands was destroyed, because as a monopoly buyer, the VOC forced the prices paid to the local producers in the Spice Islands down to low levels. With

16065-706: Was appointed governor-general of the VOC. He saw the possibility of the VOC becoming an Asian power, both political and economic. On 30 May 1619, Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, stormed Jayakarta, driving out the Banten forces; and from the ashes established Batavia as the VOC headquarters. In the 1620s almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands was driven away, starved to death, or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations. These plantations were used to grow nutmeg for export. Coen hoped to settle large numbers of Dutch colonists in

16200-505: Was approximately to double the size of the company. The tonnage of the returning ships rose by 125 percent in this period. However, the company's revenues from the sale of goods landed in Europe rose by only 78 percent. This reflects the basic change in the VOC's circumstances that had occurred: it now operated in new markets for goods with an elastic demand, in which it had to compete on an equal footing with other suppliers. This made for low profit margins. The business information systems of

16335-549: Was consulted on Indian affairs and gave even more valuable information to Lancaster. In 1599, a group of prominent merchants and explorers met to discuss a potential East Indies venture under a royal charter . Besides Fitch and Lancaster, the group included Stephen Soame , then Lord Mayor of London ; Thomas Smythe , a powerful London politician and administrator who had established the Levant Company ; Richard Hakluyt , writer and proponent of British colonization of

16470-701: Was controlled by a powerful local ruler and subject to stiff competition from Chinese and English traders. In 1604, a second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reached the islands of Ternate , Tidore , Ambon and Banda . In Banda, they encountered severe VOC hostility, sparking Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices. From 1611 to 1617, the English established trading posts at Sukadana (southwest Kalimantan ), Makassar , Jayakarta and Jepara in Java , and Aceh, Pariaman and Jambi in Sumatra , which threatened Dutch ambitions for

16605-541: Was established in 1611 at Masulipatnam on the Andhra Coast of the Bay of Bengal , and its second in 1615 at Surat. The high profits reported by the company after landing in India initially prompted James I to grant subsidiary licences to other trading companies in England. However, in 1609, he renewed the East India Company's charter for an indefinite period, with the proviso that its privileges would be annulled if trade

16740-499: Was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region , initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company gained control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and Hong Kong . At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies , totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice

16875-1113: Was highly successful, and Jahangir sent a letter to James through Sir Thomas Roe: Upon which assurance of your royal love I have given my general command to all the kingdoms and ports of my dominions to receive all the merchants of the English nation as the subjects of my friend; that in what place soever they choose to live, they may have free liberty without any restraint; and at what port soever they shall arrive, that neither Portugal nor any other shall dare to molest their quiet; and in what city soever they shall have residence, I have commanded all my governors and captains to give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure. For confirmation of our love and friendship, I desire your Majesty to command your merchants to bring in their ships of all sorts of rarities and rich goods fit for my palace; and that you be pleased to send me your royal letters by every opportunity, that I may rejoice in your health and prosperous affairs; that our friendship may be interchanged and eternal. The company, which benefited from

17010-554: Was later renamed Cape of Good Hope in honour of the outpost's presence. Although non-company ships were welcome to use the station, they were charged exorbitantly. This post later became a full-fledged colony, the Cape Colony , when more Dutch and other Europeans started to settle there. Through the seventeenth century VOC trading posts were also established in Persia , Bengal , Malacca , Siam , Formosa (now Taiwan), as well as

17145-487: Was no longer worth the trouble to try to dominate the Malabar pepper and spice trade. A strategic decision was taken to scale down the Dutch military presence and in effect yield the area to EIC influence. In the 1741 Battle of Colachel , warriors of Travancore under Raja Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch. The Dutch commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy was captured. Marthanda Varma agreed to spare

17280-459: Was not a satisfactory location. Although it was at the centre of the spice production areas, it was far from the Asian trade routes and other VOC areas of activity ranging from Africa to India to Japan. A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought. The Straits of Malacca were strategic but became dangerous following the Portuguese conquest, and the first permanent VOC settlement in Banten

17415-649: Was renewed several times, but was allowed to expire on 31 December 1799. Most of the possessions of the former VOC were subsequently occupied by Great Britain during the Napoleonic wars , but after the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created by the Congress of Vienna , some of these were restored to this successor state of the Dutch Republic by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 . While

17550-603: Was showcased by the Anglo-Nepalese war (1814–1816). The Draft History of the Qing records the Chinese Qing dynasty as formally commencing trade with the British in 1698. Within the first two decades of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie , (VOC) was the wealthiest commercial operation in the world with 50,000 employees worldwide and

17685-527: Was so high between the Dutch and the British East Indies Trading Companies that it escalated into at least four Anglo-Dutch wars: 1652–1654, 1665–1667, 1672–1674 and 1780–1784. Competition arose in 1635 when Charles I granted a trading licence to Sir William Courteen , which permitted the rival Courteen association to trade with the east at any location in which the EIC had no presence. In an act aimed at strengthening

17820-534: Was such a rich prize that her sale proceeds increased the capital of the VOC by more than 50%. Also in 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten , West Java , and in 1611, another was established at Jayakarta (later "Batavia" and then "Jakarta"). In 1610, the VOC established the post of governor-general to more firmly control their affairs in Asia. To advise and control

17955-498: Was the ship's rutter (mariner's handbook) containing vital information on the China , India, and Japan trade routes. In 1596, three more English ships sailed east but all were lost at sea. A year later however saw the arrival of Ralph Fitch , an adventurer merchant who, with his companions, had made a remarkable nine year overland journey to Mesopotamia , the Persian Gulf , the Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia. Fitch

18090-636: Was to deliver a decisive blow to the Spanish and Portuguese monopoly of far-eastern trade. Elizabeth granted her permission and in 1591, James Lancaster in the Bonaventure with two other ships, financed by the Levant Company , sailed from England around the Cape of Good Hope to the Arabian Sea , becoming the first English expedition to reach India that way. Having sailed around Cape Comorin to

18225-688: Was unprofitable for three consecutive years. In 1615, James I instructed Sir Thomas Roe to visit the Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim Jahangir (r. 1605–1627) to arrange for a commercial treaty that would give the company exclusive rights to reside and establish factories in Surat and other areas. In return, the company offered to provide the Emperor with goods and rarities from the European market. This mission

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