The East India Company

The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: William Crockett

The British East India Company served as one of the key players in the formation of the British Empire. From its origins as a trading company struggling to keep up with its superior Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish competitors to its tenure as the ruling authority of the Indian subcontinent to its eventual hubristic downfall, the East India Company serves as a lens through which to explore the much larger economic and social forces that shaped the formation of a global British Empire. As a private company that became a non-state global power in its own right, the East India Company also serves as a cautionary tale all too relevant to the modern world’s current political and economic situation.On its most basic level, the East India Company played an essential part in the development of long-distance trade between Britain and Asia. The trade in textiles, ceramics, tea, and other goods brought a huge influx of capital into the British economy. This not only fueled the Industrial Revolution, but also created a demand for luxury items amongst the middle classes. The economic growth provided by the East India Company was one factor in Britain’s ascendancy from a middling regional power to the most powerful nation on the planet. The profits generated by the East India Company also created incentive for other European powers to follow its lead, which led to three centuries of competition for colonies around the world. This process went well beyond Asia to affect most of the planet, including Africa and the Middle East.

Beyond its obvious influence in areas like trade and commerce, the East India Company also served as a point of cultural contact between Western Europeans, South Asians, and East Asians. Quintessentially British practices such as tea drinking were made possible by East India Company trade. The products and cultural practices traveling back and forth on East India Company ships from one continent to another also reconfigured the way societies around the globe viewed sexuality, gender, class, and labor. On a much darker level, the East India Company fueled white supremacy and European concepts of Orientalism (See Said, Orientalism).

In the same vein, as a joint stock company, the East India Company left behind meticulous documentation of its economic exchanges and policies. Descriptions of military endeavors, encounters with indigenous peoples, and codes of conduct for employees also give contemporary researchers insight into the cultural perspectives of those who governed the company. Moreover, the East India Company’s policies and personnel were the subject of frequent commentaries in newspapers, parliamentary debates, and other publicly available sources. Historians have used these detailed records to reconstruct both the day-to-day operations and the larger historical arc of the company. In addition, the sources created by the East India Company provide insight into the far less well-documented histories of the people the East India Company encountered, traded with, and ultimately conquered.

One of the major reasons that the East India Company remains the subject of intense interest is that the consequences of its influence remain visible in India, Britain, and other parts of the world to this day. While the British Crown eventually replaced the East India Company as the governing authority of India, the systems of production they had established remained intact. More than half a century after India declared independence from the British Empire, the economic and cultural effects of this colonial system of production remained apparent. The disparities in wealth and power between the global North and the global South may not stem from the East India Company alone, but the company played an indisputable role in imperial process.

©2016 Charles River Editors (P)2016 Charles River Editors

Mechanical Rendition

I was seeking a basic understanding of the history of the East India Company. Unfortunately the narration sounded like it was computer generated. On the plus side, the book is short and I got the base information I was looking for without the narrator putting me to sleep.

Don't bother

This was so general that it was a waste of time. The narration has so many mispronunciations that it was really annoying.

Cliff notes version

This is a very general overview of a dynasty. I would recommend it for a young reader or a road trip to a neighboring town.

Good but too short

Would you listen to The East India Company again? Why?

No, but it whetted my appetite to learn more about the British Empire in general, and the East India Company specifically.

I want more than this!

What disappointed you about The East India Company?

How can you possibly sum up the history of the greatest trading company the world has ever known in 90 minutes.

Very thin on detail, and a rather lacklustre narrator

Would you ever listen to anything by Charles River Editors again?

Not knowlingly

What didn’t you like about William Crockett’s performance?

Stumbling narration with American mispronounciation of British English

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The East India Company?

I would never offer this version

Any additional comments?

Can I get a refund?

Awful, truly awful

Don’t waste your time. The reader is dreadful and somehow the story of a fascinating company and era was reduce to a few hours of mind numbing boredom