More than a state: British East India Trading Company

As you dig into the principles of managing a company, sooner or later you come across two large formations - the Inquisition and the East India Trading Company. I am not ready to discuss the first in order to avoid holivars, but I dug up a little about the second.

This business, which suddenly became more than England, influenced technical progress, launched a couple of wars and killed hundreds of thousands of people. In the middle of the world, the traces of this company are from the “Gardens of the Company” near the Cape of Good Hope to the references in modern films like “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The business was impressive.
')
Imagine the situation: the second half of the sixteenth century, in England, a complete ass with finances. The people are in trouble and do not obey, a well-functioning judicial system has become a tough random number, the threat of war, no reliable external alliances. It is clear that all this will lead to even greater problems, internal schism and civil war. We had to do something and do it pretty quickly.

The first way to solve the problem was simple as a log - to refinance and lick wounds, and then slowly return the work. But only Amsterdam gave it at 14% per month, and therefore the English, who were slightly numb from Dutch arrogance, refused to take it.

It remained to think. It was unusual, so the result was unexpected too.

Important Disclaimer

I myself, of course, did not participate in this matter, but it was fascinating to raise the data. Immediately I say - there are many sources, they are contradictory, but you can make up some kind of holistic impression. Further - exclusively that I understood, it is quite possible that the plot went somehow differently. All this was important to me, not for historical accuracy, but in the practical aspect for the study of control theory. It is on this that I tried to focus further.

Deeper ass

The most profitable business at that time was trade with new lands. Let me remind you that at this time Portugal slowly gave up the palm on the seas of Spain, plus Venice was strong. England did not even have an intelligent fleet.

Previously, a company had already been established to trade with Spain, and it gave a sufficient income stream. But the whole song ended exactly at the time of the change of the king - Philip II forbade the carriage of goods on foreign ships. In English you can not, in your Spanish. For the English, it was Ales - and so was not enough money, but now it was not enough at all. Here is a straight pitchfork.

The smuggling began, wild and merciless. In 1563, an embargo came on the importation of goods into England, because the English Jackie Sparrows with Morgans and Bladami painfully wisely gave the Spaniards a flick on the far frontiers. By the way, the real from the entire list is only Morgan, and he was born a century later. Therefore, we honor the memory of anonymous heroes.

And a little later, the corsairs managed to dig in at the same time with Portugal, and the foreign polar fox finally came to England.

Contacts with Russians

In 1553, the British explored the road to us Russians. Ivan the Terrible in 1558 made his way to the Baltic Sea and it started. We needed a lot of gunpowder and guns, cannon steel - and here the British set them up. We needed nothing else from them - everything could be gotten closer. But the Europeans did not give us weapons - and I fully understand them. By the way, about the guns - it looks like these were the ones that Lefty's master bequeathed not to clean with a brick.

Europe from such a spectacle of supplies of ammunition bypassing all, to put it mildly, fell into cognitive dissonance. Trade unions thought for a long time what could be done and still convinced the Danish king that the British were carrying the barrels to the Swedes so that the named Swedes could attack him personally. The Danish king was paranoid. In a medical sense. Sea way blocked. The British tried the smuggling, but quickly learned that the Danes - this is nifiga not relaxed Spaniards, they know how to catch, and the ships squeeze right away with the goods.

Smuggling Era

The English merchants were loners, who, if anything, sat by the law. They did not have a central association and trade union, and this very much prevented defending interests. Running a little ahead, right up to the time of the end of the Drake Around the World in Spain, they argued about everything - but they had already split into two fronts, the Anglo-Spanish trading company and the “trade union”. At the same time, a particularly smart one established a supply channel for the Berbers (1576). The Spaniards, fighting with the pirates of the sultanate, were very pleased that uneducated pirates have long-range guns and cannons with the “made in England” stigma. Corollary: May 1585 - the confiscation of all English courts by Spain.

In response, Elizabeth began to massively issue corsair patents. An example of a hero of these years is Jora Clifford, a sullen man with a very interesting manner of entertainment. He accumulated raids already on the 47-gun ship, and then began to intercept the Spanish convoys with silver and gold. The problem was that they still had to find something that did not work. Three times he epically missed the convoy and robbed the uncomplicated. Then came the extravaganza of San Juan. There, the British in a large assortment approached the island to rob. The Spanish General de Guzmán ordered to roll the guns deeper and not to shoot. The British decided that the guns had not yet been delivered, and came closer, as much as 150 meters to the fort. And they began to organize a military council. The shelling of 24-pounder cannons from 150 meters with the ability to carefully aim at the targeted sectors is like a machine gun on a wagon at close range. Raid broken off. To put it mildly.

But our hero Zhora raised the experience, made conclusions and returned six months later with 18 ships. And on the island there was just a shift change of fighters - the old soldiers were taken away, and the new ones had not yet arrived. As a result, the British from two attempts took everything at once - 60 people killed in losses, 4 million pesos of revenue. A month later, the loss amounted to another 200 who died from dysentery and 500 patients. I had to leave the island. After paying the loans, Zhora Clifford lowered the remaining money at the races, which in the end (after sublimation and distillation) seriously enriched the budget of England.

Approximately from such remarkable people then consisted "free fleet".

Let me remind you, the whole history of maritime trade is the history of astronomy and navigation. Who has the best card, he wins. The British simply could not go around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. Three times they sent expeditions: three ships, three ships, two ships. All weevil devoured. Everything would go slowly and sadly, if the Dutchman Jan Gugein had not stolen the Spaniards' cards. At the age of 17, he became a servant of the Archbishop of the East Indies, and maliciously abused his official position - copied all the cards he could get to the line. He illustrated them his blog (forgive the book) about traveling. 4 years before the formation of the Company, he issued it.

X day

On December 31, 1600, 214 merchants and one already mentioned Earl George Clifford received an excellent New Year present - Queen Elizabeth founded the East India Trading Company. The manager was a man named Thomas Smith, 24 directors appeared. But on December 31 they did not celebrate, because they have Christmas, not New Year. Now, about Jora. George Clifford managed to specifically go bankrupt and joined this project in order to stick to the court, which could not become a liquid asset at a time when the merchant fleet was not needed. Ear type.

The first expedition started in 1601 and returned in 1603. They went around the Indian Ocean and bought all the interesting things. Jewelry and silk weighed almost nothing, but the ships loaded up to the very top with pepper. Margin 400%. He was so much that just did not have time to sell - for 3 years he was listed on the warehouse balance. The following year, another expedition was launched. According to its results, the founders received a full return on investment - and they still have shares in the company.

The model of the British company was built on bonds - the merchants gave the company a debt, and then they demanded a return with interest regardless of the circumstances. The success of the expeditions in this aspect was unimportant. Nobody gave shares to depositors. And in the Netherlands there was already a stock market, and there they understood what a stock was - it was the shares of the Dutch company that were traded in Amsterdam. The action gives a share.

The Dutch had 10 times more money from the population, and the population was actively investing. For now just keep in mind this fact, he has not yet begun to dramatically influence history.

At the same time, the Dutch were entrenched in Indonesia - the British could not afford to invest in local infrastructure and could not afford to close the risks of unsuccessful expeditions, there was not enough money. And the Dutch could show a couple of years of losses to investors, but they could have received after this decade of prosperity. Plus, all their operations were calculated by shares, - if one unsuccessful accounted for two successful ones, you were still in wild profits.

The consequence of this model - the Dutch East India Company for the 1603rd year had the full budget of England in operating expenses. Young English East India Company had horseradish with butter.

In 1688, the British rasschuhali about the action and also reorganized - in this direction, long before the actual reorganization, uncle Cromwell, well-known in economics circles, was very actively kicking them in this direction.


<sup>A slightly later example of the Spanish base. This is Palawan Island. The story is interesting because there was no stone in place, so the Spaniards built from coral. A very long time.


This is how picturesque it looks from the ground.</sup>

Indian pool

In the 1620s, the Dutch seized the Banda Islands, and got a monopoly on nutmeg. Admiral Kun decided to create an intra-Asian trading system, a kind of bus for exchanging goods between China and other countries. And he did it. The British, Spaniards and Portuguese, looking at this insolence, simply seethed with rage, but could not do anything. "Even the tallest gallows in good old England are not high enough for Kuhn," said the director of the British East India Company.

Armed clashes began. The Dutch and the British were attacking the islands of Ai and Run. And the forces of the Japanese. But this is a separate song. In 1621, Asian mercenaries slaughtered all English there. Kuhn justified his actions to shareholders simply: "There is no trade without war, just like there is no war without trade." Then the Dutch attacked Jakarta, where there was a pepper warehouse, again slaughtered all the polls. The British also did not remain in debt - if a Dutch merchant met, his team landed directly in the sea. This went on for some more time - the British lost almost all trading ports except the Indian ones.

In Europe, the Thirty Years War began. Thirty years later, it ended, but in the East Indies there was a natural Santa Barbara - Bombay, which was supposed to be English, still could not properly convey. Everyone fought against all, because the conjuncture was constantly changing.

Historically, profits were only about 5% per year, but stocks grew steadily - for 9 years from 1672 to 1681, they jumped from 80 to 365 pounds sterling. In 1694, the East India Company employed 35 people and a bunch of freelancers (including captains).

Business did not go. More precisely, he walked more slowly than his neighbors, with difficulty and strain. In 1688, the so-called “Papillon Syndicate” was formed, which began in parliament a trade auction for a separate permit for trade with the East. Wilhelm looked at these disputes, and in 1694 (already becoming king) issued a decree according to which the monopoly of the East-Indian company was abolished. All trading companies had equal trade rights with India.

Business scratched his head, threw off and supported the overthrow of the bloody regime, but nothing came of it. In order to somehow restore the royal trust, the East Indies company in 1696 went to William with a proposal - they gave a loan of 500 thousand pounds at 4% in exchange for the restoration of monopoly. However, Uncle Papillon immediately appeared, who offered the king 2 million at 8%. Wilhelm made the original decision: he took both loans and left the situation as it was. A dozen years later, the founders began to die, and it was only for commercial interests. As a result, in 1702, the syndicate and the East India Company merged into one company, which was now called the “new or United East India Company”. Monopoly was restored to the great joy of the owners. Plus, some people in management made conclusions from the failed overthrow of the king - and began to realize that we need our own power structures inside the business. To further such failures were not.

The task is set - it is necessary to solve.

Situation development

By 1720-1730, almost all developed Europeans swam across the Indian Ocean to China. In China, there were Chinese who have long been accustomed to doing well themselves without foreign trade. But they had a small surplus of goods, which they gladly changed for gold and silver.

This means that full “collectors” went there, and tea and silk were brought back, do you think? George Anson, too, saw and captured the Spaniard with two annual turnover of the British East India Company on board. It was a good business development for the British. And the British decided to make this a recurring business process.

The Danish East India Company was still in operation, the Austrian was founded in 1717, and the Swedish company opened in 1731. The Dutch have fun with the Portuguese already fought both commercially and in very offline. The Dutch won. And then the French leaked into this warm quarrel. There was an incredible lot of rabble in the region, including pretty well-trained expelled Japanese ronin. According to conservative estimates, there were up to 100 thousand of them. The French hired everyone they could reach - and suddenly they began to teach the European rules of battle that no one had done before. And at the same time they added a superheader - an analogue of diplomatic immunity. Only a tribunal of the French East Indian company could judge their actions.

While the British breathed a little and continued to develop steadily, the French unexpectedly rang everyone.

The culmination of the story

At this time, it is necessary to understand why England suddenly found the means. There was such a guy named Lorenzo Tonti, who offered a win-win scheme - you give a million to the state in a company of comrades, and then you earn your whole interest from him until the last of his comrades perishes. The scheme of the pirate fraternity of the Caribs, slightly twisted Tonti. In France, this "scam" was not allowed, suggesting that then the friends would cut each other so that the latter would get a jackpot. And in England and Holland rolled. The only difference is that the Dutch gave 6%, and the British 8%.

No one understood anything yet, but it was a disaster for Holland. It is for these two percent that the English lived. Because the wealthy Dutch came to English banks. The operating account grew very quickly, England began to allow itself huge turnover. Plus, Uncle Wilhelm really took for his most valuable elite of society - his grandmother, and he doesn’t have to worry about the rears. No one will overthrow him, otherwise the attendants will not be seen, because the whole system rested on the royal word and the royal treasury.

And taxes in England were 13.2% for the 1740th, and in Holland - about 30% of the total. And the Dutch suddenly began to build industry in England. Because the British banks gave the Dutch cheap loans from their Dutch money with tontine. The process triggered a few more recursive consequences, and the British became fat cats. Turns from the Dutch Company went to the English Company.

The public understood the scale of what is happening in about 40–50 years, when it was too late to twitch.

After earning money, England abruptly changed its strategy: it became more profitable to trade than to coaxle. And began the stage of pupation, that is, the protection of their interests. Pirates for the British were all the rest. There were large armed convoys, transshipment military bases, that's all. The next stage is the occupation of the beachhead and the construction of infrastructure. So far, at a loss, but with the understanding that it is necessary to invest once now, so that later everything works like a clock. It was not without excesses, but the English pulled up the infrastructure and were well entrenched in the Indian basin.

In the 1750s, both England and France clashed with armies of Hindus and other local sovereigns, and very, very well, were very surprised. It turned out that the advantage in technology and training is much more important than the advantage in number. All the local began to roll out just like a steamroller - and the only strong opponent were other Europeans. June 23, 1757, the date of the Battle of Plessis, many British historians consider the birthday of the British Empire. This was the date of the final realization of the superiority of steampunk technology over Zergash tactics.

Both trading companies began to build real empires. But if in the case of France these were colonies of France, then in the case of England they were colonies of an English trading company.

A slight difference between the lands of England and the British East India Company

The communication delay was six months. Therefore, the Company's employees were very autonomous. Actually, in order for this whole structure to work efficiently, somewhere else near the founding of the Company, the privileges that employees are inviolable were knocked out. In a sense, it’s almost like an army — its own court, its charter, its own policy. That is, the Company has become a mini-state, injective in England.

In the current period, the principle of hiring employees was as follows: “a small salary and a huge gain”. For example, "the founder of the British Empire," Robert Clive was originally a scribe with a salary of £ 15 a year for the 1743rd year. And as a lord, Baron Plessis, and a general, I pontered before my English friends: “I wandered through the basements open to me between piles of gold and jewels!”

Employees stole to their full height. In 1763, they made an assessment and realized that they stole approximately the annual turnover of the company. The state, of course, was not very happy about this state of affairs - it turned out that the business of England did not give anything. With businessmen demanded reporting and pay taxes. But then it suddenly became clear that most of the government was either tied to the Company in shares, or received a pension from the Company. In 1767, the Company offered to play The Field of Miracles: "We give you £ 400,000, but we don’t open this black box." And the Director of the Company said that "all territories subject to the Company were conquered without any help from the British Army and the Royal Navy," therefore, what is happening in India remains in India.

In 1773, Bengal (20 million people) was, in fact, governed by 250 Company officials. Plus, the force case - 500 officers and 3000 white soldiers. The British found local personnel who, in fact, served as the occupation administration, and cheerfully began to press their own people. In 1781, they began to investigate this story in London. In 1783, a bill appeared to establish a parliamentary commission to control the Company. In the same remarkable year Lacagigar began to erupt, and he did it for as much as 8 months. Volcanic winter has begun because of the ashes. In Iceland, about 9 thousand people were killed outright, and seasonal cycles across the planet changed a bit. Neal did not overflow, 2 million people died. And in India, the temperature of the water rose, leading to drought.

The company had stocks of biscuits in warehouses, but did not open warehouses. It was assumed that you just need to wait until the competitors die out naturally. When a loaf of bread began to cost about 1000 rubles by our standards - only then the clerks, on their own initiative, began to earn mad grandmas. In 1783–1784, according to various estimates, from 10 to 14 million people died in India, including in the territories under the jurisdiction of the British, up to 4 million.

On February 13, 1788, a hearing on these events began in London. The company was forcibly divided into several parts. Commerce was separate, and politics - under the supervision of the state. But in fact, the control system was quite effective, so nothing has changed much. The reports of the Governor-General were checked by the Directorate of the Company, that is, they did not check for waste and abuse, but that the Governor did not become disloyal to the company. An official is loyal - and you can close your eyes to his theft. Disloyal - and it is possible to blame him for corruption. The new scheme took root - and the company continued to work.

In 1779, a spinning machine was invented, and cotton no longer needed to be transported. Introduced a barrage duty on imported fabric. They began to carry raw materials. This backfired already in the 1800s, when Indian weavers, left without orders, began to die en masse from hunger. Even the raw materials were not sold - it turned out to be cheaper to haul from Brazil. And yet another turn of wars began in Europe, and there was no money to transport them to China for purchases. In 1771, the Dutch Company went bankrupt.

In 1793, the employees of the British East India Company were almost doubled in salaries, but at the same time (finally!) They were forbidden to engage in their own trading operations. Now clerks should work exclusively for the Company.

England began to fight with France. France began to actively distribute letters of marque in the water area. Something reminds, right? In 1807, the French and other pirates were so furious that the British Company began to change strategy. We went to the convoys, playing on the fact that the pirates had no means of communication. But the system of convoys sharply reduced the clock frequency of transactions.

The end of the European Wars

In 1811, in Europe, areas of responsibility in the water area were divided. In the 24th year during the negotiations, it turned out that Singapore was sold to the Dutch. Sultan, sitting inside, to put it mildly, was delighted with this news. And offered a deal - sell the Singapore Company. And sold. That is, the city was immediately recaptured, was not in English jurisdiction, was not in any jurisdiction at all - and became a free harbor. The company brought opium. Near the base deployed Chinese smugglers. We also drove from Russia, but camels. That is, it turned out less.

China ohreneval. The company did not want to fight with him (the partner and the supplier), but the free traders started selling contraband directly.

At this time, our (Russian) sounded Persia in a military conflict. This ottyanulo government troops of the British. We were afraid that the British would go on the attack, the British were afraid that we would go on the attack. Paranoia grew stronger, budgets increased, troops piled up and frowned at each other.

In England, they decided to organize a war with China, but since they did not have any forces, they entrusted this responsibility to the Company. The situation was saved by the fact that China’s army was as plush as India used to be. And the company unexpectedly won.

Success surprised everyone: both England, and China, and even the Company, it seems. Looking at this picture, the government of England decided to undercut the authority of the Company. First, they took away the monopoly on the Ost-India (1813), then on China (1833), asked for 6 million pounds sterling (1834), and at the same time introduced a parallel control system in India.

The company was losing money, and it was necessary to invent something urgently. We spent the exploration and found that in India, it turns out, tea is also growing. In Assam. But the locals do not know how to do it like the Chinese, and they burn leaves. Tea turns out beautiful and strong. In 1837 a British company appeared, which dealt only with tea. In 1841, Arthur Campbell, a doctor at the Bengal Medical Service, secretly brought samples from China and tried to grow them in West Bengal, in Darjeeling. The “foreigner” very easily got accustomed to the new land, and now the British could grow real Chinese tea in Bengal. The Chinese tea market has gained a hefty competitor.

In the 50s, the company rolled Burma. The reason was completely idiotic - someone started a rumor that the cartridges, which were issued to sipayam, were with grease from pork and cow fat. And this has important religious overtones. Factory workers began to laugh at the elite of the elites and call them suckers. The English colonel announced a general collection and brought to the personnel that it was all a lie and a provocation, and therefore he would order to degrease the cartridges. The people naturally thought that if this is a lie and a provocation, then why degrease? Hindus were offended, they continued to tease the lower classes.

And then a year later the uprising began. Which, perhaps, would be quickly suppressed, if not this lever of influence on sepoys. They were somehow not so fun to fight for the British. And the British taught the local intelligentsia what to do and how. On his own head. And the local showed miracles of the inventive approach in solving the problem of how to kill the invaders. Advice: if possible, do not fight well motivated engineers who want to kill you.

The second war in Burma undermined the company's budget, and there were no new profits. The company first got into a cash gap, and then became bankrupt.

A year later, the Indians read a report in London "on the true state of things in the possession of the East India Company." The consequence is a bill to close the Company. It was assumed that the Queen should rule India directly. There was little money there, but there was a lot of labor there, a good sales market and also India was proof that England is a force. Without India, the Empire somehow did not take shape. As a result, the shareholders of the East India Company to pay compensation of 15 million pounds, and the business was closed.

findings

The company initially saved England and made it great, pursuing trade routes of what could not be done by direct invasion of Asian countries. Then it became too autonomous and too strong - enough to become a competitor of England itself. And at that moment she began to chop off the powers. The modified Company began to slow down the progress of England (in particular, to use slave labor instead of developing capitalist models), and for all the reasons that had accumulated from all sides, it had to be closed completely.

Traces left a lot. Shipyards Companies seem to have become a model for St. Petersburg. Huge Cape Town - the company's former transit base. Jakarta is the slightly grown headquarters of the Company.

Notice how two almost random facts - the difference of 2% on the Tonti scheme and the wrong fat in the ammunition depot (or the precise work of a PR manager in India) played the role of triggers in this story.

Journey through the links should start here with these three pages: Wiki , dictionary , historical site . The most important thing is the list of references; you can move on and on with it.