mercantile companies Flashcards
What was the fundamental assumption on mercantile companies?
They were just trading corporations- became an empire with the acquisition of territory in the mid 1700s. (Battle of Plassey)
Sharp distinction between “trading” and “imperial” periods of British India.
When is it assumed that EIC became an empire?
Battle of Plassey (acquisition of Bengal)
What does anachronistic mean?
Attributing something to a period to which it doesn’t belong
How are we making anachronistic assumptions abt mercantile companies?
Because companies nowadays aren’t imperial powers, we assume it was like that too.
What features of a private company did mercantile companies have?
Owned by private shareholders
In the business of trade
Run for profit
What features of a public sovereign do mercantile companies have?
Having an army
Has a real political system with hierarchical structure (they were not a subset of European politics or economy)
Who wrote the book about the company-state?
Philip Stern
Modern corporation-communities?
Apple, facebook, google
They organize health, transportation “sense of community”
The myth of 1648
EM was actually filled with variety of corporate bodies, hybrid, overlapping and composite forms of sovereignty
The central role of corporations (church etc.)
Formed the bedrock of political and associational life in Europe
Purpose: to bind a multitude of people together into a legal singularity / artificial person (concept that binds a group)
The king is dead but it has a “spiritual body” an “artificial king”
Who talks about the state beyond this “spiritual body”?
Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan
First time we get the concept of the state
Mercantile companies are totally states…
EIC claimed jurisdiction over all English subjects in Asia
Then they get grants from English monarchs that allowed for greater autonomy
Eventually it obtains all main attributes of a state (make law, wage war, coin money)
Sources of legitimacy for mercantile companies (2)
Charters and powers from home
Grants, treaties and alliances with Asian polities (insinuation and deference)
Disadvantages of the sources of legitimacy of mercantile companies?
The multiplicity of foundations means authority is volatile
Advantages of the sources of legitimacy of mercantile companies?
Ability balance different sources means flexibility and robust form of political pwoer
When was EIC founded?
1600
When is the Battle of Plassey?
1757
When does the British government take direct control of India?
1857
What was the largest global corporation in C17?
VOC - dominated the spice trade from 1600 to mid 1700s
How was VOC this successful?
Gained monopoly on spices, only one accessing Japan
Were European monopolies a myth?
Monopolies were a European thing that didn’t affect asians
Beyond spices monopolies collapse (tea, textiles)
Key findings of contemporary research on mercantile companies?
They were a political power
When was VOC founded?
1602
