Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

February 11, 2009

The Company that Owned a Nation

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 12:53 pm

The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

by Jean Gogolin, WordWright

Elizabeth I of England is remembered for a lot of things – her virginity and defeating the Spanish Armada to name two – but not many people think of her as the backer of an early experiment in capitalism called the joint stock company.

But by granting a royal charter to a bunch of London businessmen intent on beating the Dutch at the spice trade, she set the stage for a business deal that shaped a nation – one that could teach Wall Street and the U.S. Congress a few lessons.

On December 31, 1600, the Queen granted a Royal Charter to “George, Earl of Cumberland and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses” to form what eventually became the East India Company. Shortly thereafter their ships set sail for the Indian Ocean, and the rest is quite literally history.

Initially, the company stuck to trading cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre (for gunpowder), tea, and that big profit maker, opium. Back home, various acts of Parliament renewed the company’s charter, in return for which the company made large loans to the government. Over time, the Company acquired Indian territory, minted money, collected revenues, maintained forts and armies, made war and peace, made treaties, and administered justice – of its own kind. Eventually, it ruled virtually all of India.

Of course, all that power corrupted. Despite its revenues from trade and other sources, the Company found itself burdened with massive military expenditures, and its future seemed bleak. Desperate, the directors tried to avert bankruptcy by appealing to Parliament for financial help.

[Sound familiar?]

State intervention put the Company back on its feet, Parliament took greater control over the Company’s affairs, and placed India under the rule of a Governor-General in an arrangement called the Raj. [See “A Passage to India,” available through http://www.Netflix.com]

For the next 50 years, the British tried to eliminate Indian rivals, beating back Tipu Sultan of Mysore and the Marathas, and subjugating the Sikhs.

Finally, of course, India rebelled and eventually won independence.

British histories of the Raj tend to focus on the regimes of law and order installed by the British, the bringing of the railways, roads, and telegraph to the natives, the institution of formal education, the introduction of British political traditions and institutions. Not to mention cricket and gin. To hear them tell the story, relationships between the Brits and the people of Indian were cordial.

But according to one source, at the same time that near-sainted Winston Churchill was waging a valiant struggle against the Nazis and Japanese, he complained to Leo Amery, Secretary of State for India, “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.” Churchill, you remember, spent considerable time in India.

No wonder Indian historians describe the Raj, and the reign of the East India Company, somewhat differently than the British do.

The East India Company was finally dissolved in 1874 – though interestingly, it still has a 1-page website leading nowhere: http://www.theeastindiacompany.com/

Two small remnants of its existence remain. One is the East India Club in London, now a private gentlemen’s club in St. James Square. The other, surprisingly, is the design of the American stars and stripes, which was influenced by one of the East India Company’s flags.

But the real legacy of the Company, for good and ill, is India itself, forever shaped by those 16th Century businessmen after the wealth of the East.

Jean Gogolin can be found working at WordWright and at Word Tales where she
writes about writing, the news, and the business of words in an intelligent, strategic and slightly edgy way.
Her twitter name is @jgogolin

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!





Filed under Marketing, Successful Blog |




C'mon. Let's talk!

6 Comments to “The Company that Owned a Nation”

  1. February 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
    Janice Cartier said

    Ahh, chasing treasures…beautifully written account of the East India Company. You’ve made me smile today and think of a friend whose family way back was part of East India Company. A kind man, who trades in wine and builds lovely relationships. Thank you.

  2. February 12th, 2009 at 5:46 am
    Karin H said

    Funny how history always seems to be from the viewers point.
    And how the results of history ‘facts’ sometimes start to live their own life.

    Vereningde Oost Indische Company: the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock (and did win the spice race, but not the ‘land’ - we never did, we even sold New Amsterdam)

    I’m of course biased ;-)

    Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

  3. February 12th, 2009 at 7:48 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Janice!
    Relationships were such huge part of making that company happen. Every company gets to where it’s at by the way they value the people they work with.

  4. February 12th, 2009 at 7:49 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karin!
    I remember studying about the Dutch influence at the time. Your country’s influence was amazing and is often left out of the story. Thank you for bringing it back.

    Without you and your insights. This blog would be less. Same goes for the story of the past.

  5. February 12th, 2009 at 8:11 am
    Janice Cartier said

    So true Liz. I worked on a Raj theme design project for his Mystic Krewe at one point ( how fitting) … the meetings , the research, the trips to see the Indian silks used by the dressmaker for the ball costumes, the absolute respect and appreciation he carries throughout any endeavor, the sincere excitement and the follow through of appreciation.. even for the color of the ribbon and wrap we put my Ball Favors in, when I profile my ideal client, he’s at the top of the list. He is one of those people who is very present, very focused on making the experience, not only a good one, but a mutually supportive one in every way. And fun too. When you walk into his Wine Purveying building, you can sense the ease and happy to be there attitude of everyone associated with the firm.

  6. February 12th, 2009 at 10:05 am
    Are We Indians Any Better Now? said

    [...] I had come across a recollection of the past of my nation. The recollection itself was done with a rare empathy and honesty, however [...]

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

C'mon Let's Talk!