What do you think?
Rate this book
The Honourable Company: a History of the English East India Company
During 200 years the East India Company grew from a loose association of Elizabethan tradesmen into "the grandest society of merchants in the universe". As a commercial enterprise it came to control half the world's trade and as a political entity it administered an embryonic empire. Without it there would have been no British India and no British Empire. In a tapestry ranging from Southern Africa to north-west America, and from the reign of Elizabeth I to that of Victoria, bizarre locations and roguish personality abound. From Bombay to Singapore and Hong Kong the political geography of today is, in some respects, the result of the Company. This book looks at the history of the East India Company.
476 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
John Keay
49 books229 followersJohn Stanley Melville Keay FRGS is an English journalist and author specialising in writing popular histories about India and the Far East, often with a particular focus on their colonisation and exploration by Europeans.
John Keay is the author of about 20 books, all factual, mostly historical, and largely to do with Asia, exploration or Scotland. His first book stayed in print for thirty years; many others have become classics. His combination of meticulous research, irreverent wit, powerful narrative and lively prose have invariably been complimented by both reviewers and readers.
UK-based and a full-time author since 1973, he also wrote and presented over 100 documentaries for BBC Radios 3 and 4 from 1975-95 and guest-lectured tour groups 1990-2000. He reviews on related subjects, occasionally speaks on them, and travels extensively.
John Keay is the author of about 20 books, all factual, mostly historical, and largely to do with Asia, exploration or Scotland. His first book stayed in print for thirty years; many others have become classics. His combination of meticulous research, irreverent wit, powerful narrative and lively prose have invariably been complimented by both reviewers and readers.
UK-based and a full-time author since 1973, he also wrote and presented over 100 documentaries for BBC Radios 3 and 4 from 1975-95 and guest-lectured tour groups 1990-2000. He reviews on related subjects, occasionally speaks on them, and travels extensively.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
Read
November 24, 2019A relaxed narrative history of the English East India Company from the beginnings until between 1800 and 1830ish, reading it I thought I was going to write that it takes a while to get going, but by the time I finished I realised that it never did, rather like a stately Eastindiaman at anchor at Greenhithe it just bobbed up and down in the Thames a little in the swells of the current.
Non-British people may be surprised, even indignant, that the British Empire doesn't really feature in UK education, I believe some children learn about the end of the slave trade (apparently because it is not controversial, a sentiment which would have surprised William Wilberforce) although certainly not it seems about its beginnings or how non-freedom in various forms - indentured labour forced migrations and so on lingered on and on, anyhow much here was unfamiliar to me. It was slightly curious how much the company struggled at first to get going, yet by the end of the seventeenth century it had managed to turn a number of corners and accounted for a substantial part of British customs revenues, perhaps that simply indicates quite how massive and exciting the profits from trade in Far eastern trade were. Early problems of the East India Company included: people dying because, the merchants were attracted to settling on malarial and occasionally tiger infested islands, extensive fighting and mutual torturing of Dutch merchants and locals, and not grasping the implications of supply and demand - the early voyages succeeded in crashing the price of pepper in London (the Dutch had the same problem - but they resorted to burning pepper on the docks to reduce their supply).
A more fundamental problem was that nobody in the East wanted to buy the products that the English brought out with them - various qualities of heavy woollen cloth excited no interest, which meant a heavy trade deficit as England had to export silver to buy the produce of the East, first spices, later cottons, then tea. One of the corners turned was moving into local trade in Asia - buying Indian cotton cloth to sell in Indonesia for spices, which could be sold in China. All this was revolutionised by the development of the opium trade. The flip side of the story was the development of English and European markets for Asian produce, eventually cotton cloth came to revolutionise the underwear of the later Stuarts - who abandoned the study woollens of their ancestors, and (green) tea became the must have fashionable commodity of the later eighteenth century. Naturally the presence of Europeans had a distorting effect on local economies - settlements of weavers and dyers grew up around the Company's forts and ports to provide the cotton cloth it needed for onward trade.
Keay's narrative moves forward and backwards through time as he moves from one trade depot to another, people dead in one chapter emerge alive in the next heading towards their doom - the effect is a little odd at times. This is a narrative history and other analytical stories don't get told here, only hinted at, those changing tastes, the financial and economic implications of the trade both in Britain and later India, the ecology - all this trade was essentially for plant products (Chinese porcelain was only taken on board as ballast for the tea).
This was a fearful trade - frequently the company maintained depots and trade links, not because they were profitable but out of the fear that if they pulled out the Dutch or the French would move in. Equally the Company's monopoly position had to be defended against 'interlopers' (English merchants who were not members of the East India Company) as these were themselves wealthy people, the government became involved in broadening membership and participation in the Company, government warships were also required to fight pirates and the French. Fearful also because the company Directors located up to a year's journey time away in Ledenhall street, London, from the activities of their merchants encouraged their employees to report at length on each others activities. Leading to both endless back biting and copious paperwork.
Curiously the Company was quite warlike from the start,curiously because much of the manpower tended to die of disease shortly after arriving in the East, although this aspect was revolutionised by the French who exported regular infantry units to India and whose devastating musket fire inspired a generation of ambitious schemers many Britons amongst them. In the early days raiding and piracy were seemingly as important as trade in muscling in on commercial opportunities, to the detriment of the Portuguese and Spanish.
Keay cites Chaudhari on the comic-opera (among many other elements) of Clive in India, I could have done with more of the comic-opera of Clive - perhaps in time somebody will produce a west-end musical on this theme. Warren Hastings emerges as an interesting figure although as usual I remained in the dark about on what grounds precisely Edmund Burke pressed charges against him, perhaps along with the role of the Bengal peasant in generating revenue not only for the company but also for the government of Pitt the younger - which required an annual lump sum from the company in addition to customs dues.
The book rather ebbs away with the development of the idea of free trade and the growth of Singapore, free trade of course was never free as such, but existed in a tight framework of British commercial and increasingly political dominance, backed up as China was to find out in the final resort by fleets and regiments of infantry, trade might be free, but terms of trade were highly unequal. The lack of a clear ending to the book, I suppose might be deliberate to underline how the East India Company petered out or perhaps the author lost the last of the winds in his sails much as earlier he imagined various historians dying of exhaustion in the archives of the old India office before completing anything.
Non-British people may be surprised, even indignant, that the British Empire doesn't really feature in UK education, I believe some children learn about the end of the slave trade (apparently because it is not controversial, a sentiment which would have surprised William Wilberforce) although certainly not it seems about its beginnings or how non-freedom in various forms - indentured labour forced migrations and so on lingered on and on, anyhow much here was unfamiliar to me. It was slightly curious how much the company struggled at first to get going, yet by the end of the seventeenth century it had managed to turn a number of corners and accounted for a substantial part of British customs revenues, perhaps that simply indicates quite how massive and exciting the profits from trade in Far eastern trade were. Early problems of the East India Company included: people dying because, the merchants were attracted to settling on malarial and occasionally tiger infested islands, extensive fighting and mutual torturing of Dutch merchants and locals, and not grasping the implications of supply and demand - the early voyages succeeded in crashing the price of pepper in London (the Dutch had the same problem - but they resorted to burning pepper on the docks to reduce their supply).
A more fundamental problem was that nobody in the East wanted to buy the products that the English brought out with them - various qualities of heavy woollen cloth excited no interest, which meant a heavy trade deficit as England had to export silver to buy the produce of the East, first spices, later cottons, then tea. One of the corners turned was moving into local trade in Asia - buying Indian cotton cloth to sell in Indonesia for spices, which could be sold in China. All this was revolutionised by the development of the opium trade. The flip side of the story was the development of English and European markets for Asian produce, eventually cotton cloth came to revolutionise the underwear of the later Stuarts - who abandoned the study woollens of their ancestors, and (green) tea became the must have fashionable commodity of the later eighteenth century. Naturally the presence of Europeans had a distorting effect on local economies - settlements of weavers and dyers grew up around the Company's forts and ports to provide the cotton cloth it needed for onward trade.
Keay's narrative moves forward and backwards through time as he moves from one trade depot to another, people dead in one chapter emerge alive in the next heading towards their doom - the effect is a little odd at times. This is a narrative history and other analytical stories don't get told here, only hinted at, those changing tastes, the financial and economic implications of the trade both in Britain and later India, the ecology - all this trade was essentially for plant products (Chinese porcelain was only taken on board as ballast for the tea).
This was a fearful trade - frequently the company maintained depots and trade links, not because they were profitable but out of the fear that if they pulled out the Dutch or the French would move in. Equally the Company's monopoly position had to be defended against 'interlopers' (English merchants who were not members of the East India Company) as these were themselves wealthy people, the government became involved in broadening membership and participation in the Company, government warships were also required to fight pirates and the French. Fearful also because the company Directors located up to a year's journey time away in Ledenhall street, London, from the activities of their merchants encouraged their employees to report at length on each others activities. Leading to both endless back biting and copious paperwork.
Curiously the Company was quite warlike from the start,curiously because much of the manpower tended to die of disease shortly after arriving in the East, although this aspect was revolutionised by the French who exported regular infantry units to India and whose devastating musket fire inspired a generation of ambitious schemers many Britons amongst them. In the early days raiding and piracy were seemingly as important as trade in muscling in on commercial opportunities, to the detriment of the Portuguese and Spanish.
Keay cites Chaudhari on the comic-opera (among many other elements) of Clive in India, I could have done with more of the comic-opera of Clive - perhaps in time somebody will produce a west-end musical on this theme. Warren Hastings emerges as an interesting figure although as usual I remained in the dark about on what grounds precisely Edmund Burke pressed charges against him, perhaps along with the role of the Bengal peasant in generating revenue not only for the company but also for the government of Pitt the younger - which required an annual lump sum from the company in addition to customs dues.
The book rather ebbs away with the development of the idea of free trade and the growth of Singapore, free trade of course was never free as such, but existed in a tight framework of British commercial and increasingly political dominance, backed up as China was to find out in the final resort by fleets and regiments of infantry, trade might be free, but terms of trade were highly unequal. The lack of a clear ending to the book, I suppose might be deliberate to underline how the East India Company petered out or perhaps the author lost the last of the winds in his sails much as earlier he imagined various historians dying of exhaustion in the archives of the old India office before completing anything.
December 29, 2016
This long and surprisingly readable book about the English East India Company took me several months to work my way through, mainly because I was reading it for research and kept stopping to take notes. Keay's research is thorough, and he manages to make this history about the personalities instead of just dates and major exports--remarkable in a book that's arguably all about dates and major exports. There's maybe too much glossing over of names, in fact; I found myself having to go back to remember who someone was or why they were important. I was particularly grateful for the many maps, since my knowledge of Asian geography is minimal, and in general the references and bibliography are sound. It's not a book for everyone, but for anyone who wants greater insight into how Britain became an empire in the East, this is excellent reading.
February 1, 2014
The book is about East India Company it's origins and the story of it's transaction into one of the most powerful business empires of it's times.
The initial history is lucidly explained in detail and is made interesting. The author has researched well and takes us step by step logically, historically explaining the rational behind every step and quoting historical documents n memoirs.
There were many things which I found new. Which are not part of our folklore and history here in the subcontinent.
But towards the end the book leaves a bad taste. The details give way to a hurried effort of squeezing final years into few pages n paragraphs.
Many important battles and negotiations are left unexplained. The glories are briefly touched upon but there seems to be an effort to gloss over the not so glorious points of Company's history.
Overall an informative and well researched effort. Good maps. Though maps are all in the beginning and one has to always.get back to connect places to them, a constant pain which cannot be helped I guess.
Being from sub continent if one is looking for the details into company's doings n battles for power in bengal, Bihar, Southern India and marhatta lands you ll be disappointed. It just glosses over them mostly. It's basically a description of that economic giant known as Kompany, what were it's aims, who ran it and how, power centers modus opperndi etc etc
The initial history is lucidly explained in detail and is made interesting. The author has researched well and takes us step by step logically, historically explaining the rational behind every step and quoting historical documents n memoirs.
There were many things which I found new. Which are not part of our folklore and history here in the subcontinent.
But towards the end the book leaves a bad taste. The details give way to a hurried effort of squeezing final years into few pages n paragraphs.
Many important battles and negotiations are left unexplained. The glories are briefly touched upon but there seems to be an effort to gloss over the not so glorious points of Company's history.
Overall an informative and well researched effort. Good maps. Though maps are all in the beginning and one has to always.get back to connect places to them, a constant pain which cannot be helped I guess.
Being from sub continent if one is looking for the details into company's doings n battles for power in bengal, Bihar, Southern India and marhatta lands you ll be disappointed. It just glosses over them mostly. It's basically a description of that economic giant known as Kompany, what were it's aims, who ran it and how, power centers modus opperndi etc etc
October 6, 2007
I would disagree with some of the other reviewers on the matter of dryness, I have read much drier history books. I found it mostly a very good read thanks to the use of entertaining anecdotes but because it does try to encompass so much into a tiny space there are a lot of facts and background information introduced to cover a each chapter.
The author tries to mitigate this by breaking the chapters into different different time periods and regions. This can confuse as the times will necessarily backtrack a little to say cover say Bombay and then Madras.
As a history book, this is a well researched and written book aswell as being easy to read. Having been inspired by this book I have now sought out some of the sources referenced therein to add to my library. It would be be a boon if this book was split into two or three volumes and expanded to include much more than could fit into one, especially some more on the characters involved and some more on the typical lives led by the factors, governors, etc.
Some kind of company genealogical tree with all the relevant names and territories for each period would also have been a great way to keep track of what was happening where and to whom.
The author tries to mitigate this by breaking the chapters into different different time periods and regions. This can confuse as the times will necessarily backtrack a little to say cover say Bombay and then Madras.
As a history book, this is a well researched and written book aswell as being easy to read. Having been inspired by this book I have now sought out some of the sources referenced therein to add to my library. It would be be a boon if this book was split into two or three volumes and expanded to include much more than could fit into one, especially some more on the characters involved and some more on the typical lives led by the factors, governors, etc.
Some kind of company genealogical tree with all the relevant names and territories for each period would also have been a great way to keep track of what was happening where and to whom.
May 14, 2018
A dense book that will require slow and careful reading of those chapters that have the most relevance to you, but this is only because author Keay is not a glib author but one who chooses his phrasing carefully. One of my favorite paragraphs referring to the wealth of material available on the subject is an example: "But it seems that for every researcher who with light and expectant tread enters London's India Office Library and Records, another doyen of scholarship ends his days slumped behind a lectern in mid-sentence. There are enough incomplete histories of the Company to justify a health warning" (p. 169)
The above requires my confession that I only read about 5/6 of the book and skipped over several of the detailed "back home in England" parts that covered the Company's internal politics. My interests lay more with the 'what' and 'how' of the Company's activities abroad, although this did mean I had to make several U-turns to understand the 'why's when curiosity got the better of me. (Folded in the pages of my copy was an article from the December 17, 2011 Economist entitled "The Company that ruled the wars: As state-backed firms once again become forces in global business, we ask what they can learn from the greatest of them all.")
But the content any reader will be searching for will clearly be found--this is a comprehensive, detail, name and date-rich account of the Company's history in Asia richly embellished with the lively and colorful stories of the various sojourners, captains, readers (junior members of the Company), governors and sundry others that represented the Company abroad.
The book is organized into four sections, each covering a set time period (1600-1640, 1640-1710, 1710-1760 and 1760-1820), each with its own Bibliography containing virtually all the major works of note for each topic. Seven clearly drawn maps are key and conveniently located in the front for easy reference if Bendjarmasin's location (southeast Borneo) doesn't immediately ring a bell.
The last few pages on Raffles and Singapore are especially relevant given 2019 is the 200th anniversary of Singapore's acquisition by Raffles as it includes the not-very-well-known tale of why Penang, at one time the front runner to be England's Southeast Asian coastal port, didn't make the final cut.
Not light reading, and not a quick read, but a well-researched, well-written history written for historians and others interested in a history of the region seen from the eyes of the English East India Company. A book that has earned permanent space on my shelves.
The above requires my confession that I only read about 5/6 of the book and skipped over several of the detailed "back home in England" parts that covered the Company's internal politics. My interests lay more with the 'what' and 'how' of the Company's activities abroad, although this did mean I had to make several U-turns to understand the 'why's when curiosity got the better of me. (Folded in the pages of my copy was an article from the December 17, 2011 Economist entitled "The Company that ruled the wars: As state-backed firms once again become forces in global business, we ask what they can learn from the greatest of them all.")
But the content any reader will be searching for will clearly be found--this is a comprehensive, detail, name and date-rich account of the Company's history in Asia richly embellished with the lively and colorful stories of the various sojourners, captains, readers (junior members of the Company), governors and sundry others that represented the Company abroad.
The book is organized into four sections, each covering a set time period (1600-1640, 1640-1710, 1710-1760 and 1760-1820), each with its own Bibliography containing virtually all the major works of note for each topic. Seven clearly drawn maps are key and conveniently located in the front for easy reference if Bendjarmasin's location (southeast Borneo) doesn't immediately ring a bell.
The last few pages on Raffles and Singapore are especially relevant given 2019 is the 200th anniversary of Singapore's acquisition by Raffles as it includes the not-very-well-known tale of why Penang, at one time the front runner to be England's Southeast Asian coastal port, didn't make the final cut.
Not light reading, and not a quick read, but a well-researched, well-written history written for historians and others interested in a history of the region seen from the eyes of the English East India Company. A book that has earned permanent space on my shelves.
January 11, 2020
The English East India Company arrived in India as a trading concern and set up shop here to control its trade between India and Europe and to China and the Spice Islands. The Mughals kept them under a tight leash. However, the empire tottered after the death of Aurangzeb and a state of anarchy set in. As the provincial governors assumed sovereignty, the British saw their chance when the empire was tearing itself apart. They took sides with the contestants and extracted privileges when their protégés were hauled to the throne. It was then only a matter of time when the Company assumed the onus of ruling large areas of the Indian subcontinent by itself. When the Company eventually overstepped the limits of Indian tolerance with its expansionist and ill-timed social reform policies, the Mutiny of 1857 broke out. The British prevailed in the bloodbath that ensued, but at a great cost in human lives. Piqued at the inept handling of a delicate situation the Crown took over the administration and the company itself was dissolved in 1873. This book tells the story of the East India Company, except for about the last few decades of its life. John Keay is a British historian, journalist, radio presenter and lecturer specializing in popular histories of India, the Far East and China. He is a prolific author with some twenty-five titles to his credit.
The book dispels the myth that the East India Company was formed solely to deal with Indian spices. The Company was established in 1600 as The Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies. In the seventeenth century, the words ‘India’ and ‘Indies’ had no precise geographical connotation. They were used indiscriminately to describe anywhere east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Azores. This is in effect the whole of the world except Europe, Africa and the Asian landmass. Except pepper, all major spices came from the archipelago now known as Indonesia. The Coromandel and Gujarat coasts were linked to Spice Islands for trade. They exchanged Indian cotton pieces for Indonesian spices. The Gujarati merchant marine then sailed annually to the Red Sea ports to sell the spices. It was to exploit these trade links, not to open up India’s internal trade or to gain a political toehold on the subcontinent that the Company first directed its ships to India. They had only British woolen clothes to sell, which did not find any takers in Asia. This necessitated export of bullion from England to pay for spices. This situation was not conducive to two-way commerce and not at all sustainable in the long run. Keay thus ensures the moral necessity of the British to devise some novel ways to stay in business.
The chapters on the development of the Company’s operations in India stresses on the hesitation of the Company’s officials to venture into anything not connected with trade. They were fearful of the cost, risks and delay, making them reluctant warriors. Each journey was separately financed, accounted and dividends paid. Instead of getting a market for English broadcloth which was used in India as horse blankets, India’s cotton caught on in England. In a way, the East India business generated the London money market just as it did the London docks. Money was converted to Spanish silver rials, which was the only designation accepted in India. This caused a huge drain on precious metals in England. By the 1680s, the Company exported 240,000 kilograms of silver and 7,000 kilograms of gold to the Mughals. As trade improved, the economies of the two regions became more intertwined. The manufacturing industries of Gujarat, the Tamil country and Bengal had come to depend on European trade of cotton and silk.
Another revelation of Keay’s work is the details of the hard working environment of the Company on the home front. Its monopoly was deeply resented by rivals who wanted to enter the trade. Some did it covertly, earning the sobriquet ‘interlopers’. The company also lost a substantial portion of its business to the private trade of its own employees. They could influence the crown only if they had had money to loan him or to extend other favours. Its monopoly was ended before a century of its beginning of operations. Another company competed with it for a while, but the two were amalgamated soon enough to create a united company. Around this time, the Mughal economy became dependent on the company’s bullion export. The Mughals did not employ a navy worth its name and the English presence remained the Mughals’ only guarantee of a safe passage to its shipping in the Arabian Sea which was infested with European pirates, some of whom had been in the employ of the European companies.
The book describes the chaotic political climate of Northern India with the weakening of Mughal authority. The company was forced to ensure the defence of its establishments with a private militia. Slowly, this transformed into regular troops. The company’s journey to the position of power in India began with a ‘farman’ (decree) issued by the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar in 1717. This waived the customs dues in favour of an annual lump sum payment of Rs. 3,000. Villages adjacent to the British Presidency settlements were handed over to them. The company was allowed to mint coins out of its bullion imported to India. An extradition treaty was signed to apprehend and hand over criminals escaping to Company territory. The most outrageous concession was that all goods carried under a pass (dastak) issued by the company’s officials could be transported freely in the empire without interference from royal officials or attracting taxes. The British company officials also had to contend with rival European companies whose battles at home spilled over to Indian soil. However, so long as Mughal authority lasted, it acted as an effective brake on the rivalries of the European companies. But once it crumbled, there would be nothing to stop every European quarrel from spreading to the trading settlements and then to the hinterland. Keay also explains why Indian troops appeared to stand no chance in a frontal battle with the Europeans. The ideas of drill, arms and tactics had scarcely progressed in India after Akbar while in Europe they had undergone steady refinement and development in a host of campaigns. Warfare in India was still a sport and in Europe it was a science. The pathetic state of Indian military tactics was seen in 1746 at the Siege of Madras. The Nawab of Carnatic’s soldiers were scattered by the numerically smaller French forces. It seemed that every French gun had the firepower of thirty Indian guns and every French trooper could comfortably account for ten ill-armed Mughal mercenaries.
It was in the eighteenth century that the company began its brutal exploitation of India. The Mughal emperor’s farman enabled them to collect revenues from territories ceded to them. This source of income helped stop the import of gold and silver to cover the heavily unbalanced payments. China stood firm a little longer, but the company found opium to be much in demand if it could be clandestinely transported there. The opium producers in India thus became the unwitting pawns in a cruel trade game. Proceeds from the sale of opium were used to buy tea which took England by storm, but it wasn’t contained in a tea cup. The company fought two actual wars with China for ‘establishing’ its right to sell the narcotic to Chinese people against the wishes of its emperor. The company was also oblivious to the fate of the people living in their territories in India. A famine raged in Bengal in 1770 in which up to a third of the total population perished. The company utilized this unsettling time to enhance the land revenue to ten per cent. Any relief measures were unheard of.
While it is true that the company was indifferent to the well-being of Indians living under their protection, readers are not to be deluded with the thought that the Mughals, their governors and vassals were any better. The author comments on the miserable existence of the Tamil people under the Nawab of Arcot – “The Tamil-speaking Hindus were already in a state of abject subjugation. No ruler, from the Nawab down to the pettiest poligar (feudal chief) seems to have been of Tamil birth. Nor were any of his troops. While the Tamil peasant took cover amongst the palmyras, the armies, including those of the English and French, which trampled his paddy and commandeered his buffalo, were composed of Punjabis, Afghans, Rajputs, Pathans and Marathas. All were outsiders, adventurers, mercenaries who when not fighting one another were employed in exacting tribute in the guise of revenue. Government was simply a euphemism for oppression under the imperial sanction of Mughal authority” (p.292)
The book’s readability is rather mediocre, as the text is peppered with extensive quotes from contemporary sources with strange spellings and arcane constructs. The final chapters of the book lack a clear sense of direction as if the author is at a loss on how to finish the story. Narratives of a large part of far-eastern trade carried out by the company are crammed into a few pages. The book is interesting only in those areas where it deals with India. At all other places, it pours out travels and fighting in search of trade with disconcerting precision. Almost half of the text is devoted to the company officials’ sea voyages in search of material for trade. It is adorned with an excellent and comprehensive bibliography. Typically Indian comparisons are also seen like this one – “the Mughal Empire crumbled like a crushed pappadam”.
The book is recommended only to serious readers of history.
The book dispels the myth that the East India Company was formed solely to deal with Indian spices. The Company was established in 1600 as The Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies. In the seventeenth century, the words ‘India’ and ‘Indies’ had no precise geographical connotation. They were used indiscriminately to describe anywhere east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Azores. This is in effect the whole of the world except Europe, Africa and the Asian landmass. Except pepper, all major spices came from the archipelago now known as Indonesia. The Coromandel and Gujarat coasts were linked to Spice Islands for trade. They exchanged Indian cotton pieces for Indonesian spices. The Gujarati merchant marine then sailed annually to the Red Sea ports to sell the spices. It was to exploit these trade links, not to open up India’s internal trade or to gain a political toehold on the subcontinent that the Company first directed its ships to India. They had only British woolen clothes to sell, which did not find any takers in Asia. This necessitated export of bullion from England to pay for spices. This situation was not conducive to two-way commerce and not at all sustainable in the long run. Keay thus ensures the moral necessity of the British to devise some novel ways to stay in business.
The chapters on the development of the Company’s operations in India stresses on the hesitation of the Company’s officials to venture into anything not connected with trade. They were fearful of the cost, risks and delay, making them reluctant warriors. Each journey was separately financed, accounted and dividends paid. Instead of getting a market for English broadcloth which was used in India as horse blankets, India’s cotton caught on in England. In a way, the East India business generated the London money market just as it did the London docks. Money was converted to Spanish silver rials, which was the only designation accepted in India. This caused a huge drain on precious metals in England. By the 1680s, the Company exported 240,000 kilograms of silver and 7,000 kilograms of gold to the Mughals. As trade improved, the economies of the two regions became more intertwined. The manufacturing industries of Gujarat, the Tamil country and Bengal had come to depend on European trade of cotton and silk.
Another revelation of Keay’s work is the details of the hard working environment of the Company on the home front. Its monopoly was deeply resented by rivals who wanted to enter the trade. Some did it covertly, earning the sobriquet ‘interlopers’. The company also lost a substantial portion of its business to the private trade of its own employees. They could influence the crown only if they had had money to loan him or to extend other favours. Its monopoly was ended before a century of its beginning of operations. Another company competed with it for a while, but the two were amalgamated soon enough to create a united company. Around this time, the Mughal economy became dependent on the company’s bullion export. The Mughals did not employ a navy worth its name and the English presence remained the Mughals’ only guarantee of a safe passage to its shipping in the Arabian Sea which was infested with European pirates, some of whom had been in the employ of the European companies.
The book describes the chaotic political climate of Northern India with the weakening of Mughal authority. The company was forced to ensure the defence of its establishments with a private militia. Slowly, this transformed into regular troops. The company’s journey to the position of power in India began with a ‘farman’ (decree) issued by the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar in 1717. This waived the customs dues in favour of an annual lump sum payment of Rs. 3,000. Villages adjacent to the British Presidency settlements were handed over to them. The company was allowed to mint coins out of its bullion imported to India. An extradition treaty was signed to apprehend and hand over criminals escaping to Company territory. The most outrageous concession was that all goods carried under a pass (dastak) issued by the company’s officials could be transported freely in the empire without interference from royal officials or attracting taxes. The British company officials also had to contend with rival European companies whose battles at home spilled over to Indian soil. However, so long as Mughal authority lasted, it acted as an effective brake on the rivalries of the European companies. But once it crumbled, there would be nothing to stop every European quarrel from spreading to the trading settlements and then to the hinterland. Keay also explains why Indian troops appeared to stand no chance in a frontal battle with the Europeans. The ideas of drill, arms and tactics had scarcely progressed in India after Akbar while in Europe they had undergone steady refinement and development in a host of campaigns. Warfare in India was still a sport and in Europe it was a science. The pathetic state of Indian military tactics was seen in 1746 at the Siege of Madras. The Nawab of Carnatic’s soldiers were scattered by the numerically smaller French forces. It seemed that every French gun had the firepower of thirty Indian guns and every French trooper could comfortably account for ten ill-armed Mughal mercenaries.
It was in the eighteenth century that the company began its brutal exploitation of India. The Mughal emperor’s farman enabled them to collect revenues from territories ceded to them. This source of income helped stop the import of gold and silver to cover the heavily unbalanced payments. China stood firm a little longer, but the company found opium to be much in demand if it could be clandestinely transported there. The opium producers in India thus became the unwitting pawns in a cruel trade game. Proceeds from the sale of opium were used to buy tea which took England by storm, but it wasn’t contained in a tea cup. The company fought two actual wars with China for ‘establishing’ its right to sell the narcotic to Chinese people against the wishes of its emperor. The company was also oblivious to the fate of the people living in their territories in India. A famine raged in Bengal in 1770 in which up to a third of the total population perished. The company utilized this unsettling time to enhance the land revenue to ten per cent. Any relief measures were unheard of.
While it is true that the company was indifferent to the well-being of Indians living under their protection, readers are not to be deluded with the thought that the Mughals, their governors and vassals were any better. The author comments on the miserable existence of the Tamil people under the Nawab of Arcot – “The Tamil-speaking Hindus were already in a state of abject subjugation. No ruler, from the Nawab down to the pettiest poligar (feudal chief) seems to have been of Tamil birth. Nor were any of his troops. While the Tamil peasant took cover amongst the palmyras, the armies, including those of the English and French, which trampled his paddy and commandeered his buffalo, were composed of Punjabis, Afghans, Rajputs, Pathans and Marathas. All were outsiders, adventurers, mercenaries who when not fighting one another were employed in exacting tribute in the guise of revenue. Government was simply a euphemism for oppression under the imperial sanction of Mughal authority” (p.292)
The book’s readability is rather mediocre, as the text is peppered with extensive quotes from contemporary sources with strange spellings and arcane constructs. The final chapters of the book lack a clear sense of direction as if the author is at a loss on how to finish the story. Narratives of a large part of far-eastern trade carried out by the company are crammed into a few pages. The book is interesting only in those areas where it deals with India. At all other places, it pours out travels and fighting in search of trade with disconcerting precision. Almost half of the text is devoted to the company officials’ sea voyages in search of material for trade. It is adorned with an excellent and comprehensive bibliography. Typically Indian comparisons are also seen like this one – “the Mughal Empire crumbled like a crushed pappadam”.
The book is recommended only to serious readers of history.
August 27, 2012
What starts off as an exciting early history of British trade in Asia quickly peters into an overdrawn blow-by-blow account of the history of the company's many struggles. Every small character is given pages of description while major characters like Clive, Hastings and Tipu are given short shrift. Finally, the author seems to have just run out of patience. What else could explain the opium wars of china being consigned to the epilogue. There is somewhere a wonderful book to be written and read about the East India Company. Approximately half of that book is here.
August 3, 2017
Necessarily epic, this is not a book to be started lightly! However, the lovely writing style makes this history feel more like a story, and the occasional chuckle over an absurdity would do Elizabeth Bennet proud.
♦
Awesome Christmas present from Mr B.
♦
Awesome Christmas present from Mr B.
October 21, 2023
One of the better books covering the activities, the motivations and the spread of the East India Company. This book takes a deep dive into the 'business-only' mentality that first brought the EIC to India, and how very slowly having armed guards and later troops for its factories evolved out of necessity and chance rather than an intentional design. There's also a lot of primary sources consulted by the author, which offers a necessary, if cynical, insight into the endemic corruption and the self-serving nature of anyone powerful in the Indian subcontinent. Great read!
June 12, 2012
How did a profit-making company become in essence a huge government bureaucracy? That's the story that Keay tells, and tells engagingly with a sense of humor. The one flaw, for me, was his chronological jumps when he moved to a new place of trade or settlement. It could get confusing--he would start the chapter and then later talk about something that showed he was narrating something earlier in time than events he'd already covered in other chapters. Then I wasn't sure what time period he was discussing in the part of the chapter before that mention.
Basically, my takeaway was that the British government generally found the Company convenient--they had all the benefit of the trade with none of the responsibility for defense or settlement. And they could disown responsibility when things went wrong.
Basically, my takeaway was that the British government generally found the Company convenient--they had all the benefit of the trade with none of the responsibility for defense or settlement. And they could disown responsibility when things went wrong.
June 14, 2019
This book tries to cover a lot of ground, not entirely successfully. In the interest of detail, we sacrifice narrative flow; apparently in the interests of accessibility we sacrifice much depth of financial analysis. A bit rambling and discursive for me. I think it might have benefited hugely from a lot of the material being relegated to footnotes or endnotes; keeping track of every player from major to minor, along with a dozen or more locations (frequently changing hands and/or names) is very difficult. Of course, some of that is the fault of reality, which isn't particularly tidy, but still.
May 10, 2009
Fascinating history of the British East India Company. Almost every page is a novel waiting to be written!
February 9, 2021
This book is an interesting case of an author seeking to be fair and just to a company that has received a great deal of blame. If one reads anything about Indian history, especially told from the point of view of an Indian, the East India Company is viewed with undisguised horror, as a group of pushy Europeans who came from a country that was despised and looked down by the cultured Mogul elites and then ultimately made itself indispensable to them, and then usurped their authority and ended up taking over the whole joint, much to the horror of Indians then and since then. In telling that story, the author seeks to do justice to the bravery and sacrifice of the British merchants themselves who struggled to establish a foothold in India and in other places around the Indian Ocean and even as far from India as St. Helena. This story is admittedly a bit of a slow burn, in that the reader has some idea where the author is going to end up, but he does not skip over the "boring" parts or think of the East India Company's transformation as inevitable or forget the complexity of its holdings and its behavior from the outset.
This book is about 450 pages long, and has four parts and twenty chapters. The book begins with a list of illustrations and maps, maps, acknowledgments, an author's note, and a preface, all of which give praise to those who have studied the East India Company before. After that the first part of the book looks at the quiet beginnings of the East India Company from 1600-1640 (I), looking at the Spice Island voyages of James Lancaster (1), the Spice Race with the Netherlands (2), the battle over the Arabian Sea (3), and English efforts in the Cape, Surat, and Persia (4). After that comes a section discussing the fluctuating fortunes of the company between 1640 and 1710 (II), with a look at recession, famine, and war (5), Bombay and Surat as seats of power and trade (6), the fierce engagements in Calcutta and Bengal (8), dealing with interlopers and rivals (9), and the eastern approaches at Madras, Siam, and China (10). This is followed by a discussion of how the East India Company became a territorial power (III), gaining the farman for Bengal (11), setting up lesser outposts (12) of effrontery, dealing with competition in Bombay (13), developing armies in Madras (14), and discussing the famous 200 days in Bengal including Plessy (15). The fourth and final part discussed the parting of the ways of the East India Company between 1760 and 1820 (IV), including the look towards Southeast Asia and the China trade (16), the transfer of power with London (17), Hasting's loyalty in India (18), the tea trade as opposed to free trade (19), and an epilogue dealing with Singapore (20), after which there is a bibliography and an index.
The English/British East India Company has a sprawling and massive history that the author admits would take life times to read, much less write about. And this book is about as thorough a one-volume history that one is likely to see. That isn't to say that this book covers all of the aspects of the history of the company that interest me, but it does do a reasonably good job at looking at the connection between the East India Company, trade, imperialism, and competition from the beginning. The author also gives a fair look at the many failures of the company to establish various trade ports as well as the lack of success that many of the British efforts of increasing their power in India, and there is definitely some fascinating discussion here about the way that Britain increased its naval and military power in gradual ways that did not immediately bear fruit before England's economic strength in the eighteenth century in the collapse of Mogul and Maratha authority led to the triumph of the people on the spot in India like Clive through suborning authorities, at great expense to the company and decreasing profitability. And the book even manages to end on a satisfactory note, demonstrating that the importance of trade in at least some parts carried on after the East India Company became rentiers in India.
This book is about 450 pages long, and has four parts and twenty chapters. The book begins with a list of illustrations and maps, maps, acknowledgments, an author's note, and a preface, all of which give praise to those who have studied the East India Company before. After that the first part of the book looks at the quiet beginnings of the East India Company from 1600-1640 (I), looking at the Spice Island voyages of James Lancaster (1), the Spice Race with the Netherlands (2), the battle over the Arabian Sea (3), and English efforts in the Cape, Surat, and Persia (4). After that comes a section discussing the fluctuating fortunes of the company between 1640 and 1710 (II), with a look at recession, famine, and war (5), Bombay and Surat as seats of power and trade (6), the fierce engagements in Calcutta and Bengal (8), dealing with interlopers and rivals (9), and the eastern approaches at Madras, Siam, and China (10). This is followed by a discussion of how the East India Company became a territorial power (III), gaining the farman for Bengal (11), setting up lesser outposts (12) of effrontery, dealing with competition in Bombay (13), developing armies in Madras (14), and discussing the famous 200 days in Bengal including Plessy (15). The fourth and final part discussed the parting of the ways of the East India Company between 1760 and 1820 (IV), including the look towards Southeast Asia and the China trade (16), the transfer of power with London (17), Hasting's loyalty in India (18), the tea trade as opposed to free trade (19), and an epilogue dealing with Singapore (20), after which there is a bibliography and an index.
The English/British East India Company has a sprawling and massive history that the author admits would take life times to read, much less write about. And this book is about as thorough a one-volume history that one is likely to see. That isn't to say that this book covers all of the aspects of the history of the company that interest me, but it does do a reasonably good job at looking at the connection between the East India Company, trade, imperialism, and competition from the beginning. The author also gives a fair look at the many failures of the company to establish various trade ports as well as the lack of success that many of the British efforts of increasing their power in India, and there is definitely some fascinating discussion here about the way that Britain increased its naval and military power in gradual ways that did not immediately bear fruit before England's economic strength in the eighteenth century in the collapse of Mogul and Maratha authority led to the triumph of the people on the spot in India like Clive through suborning authorities, at great expense to the company and decreasing profitability. And the book even manages to end on a satisfactory note, demonstrating that the importance of trade in at least some parts carried on after the East India Company became rentiers in India.
February 7, 2021
In The Honourable Company, John Keay takes a long hard look at the "Company of Adventurers Trading in the East Indies". His account is frank and direct, taking to task many of his predecessors and many of the myths of the mighty East India Company. He pulls into his narrative both the personalities of the Company in the "field", i.e. outside of London, from scattered attempts at settlement in South Africa, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, to the much better known adventures on the Indian subcontinent. He also ties in the various ventures in Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula, and China and Japan. Against these personalities, their complex motivations, many of them less than stalwart, Keay also arranges the personalities in London in government and in the Company whose interests were often in opposition to those in the field, though the could also be of tremendous assistance. Finally, Keay brings into the story the many native rulers and the push and pull they exerted, often in opposition to their long-term self-interest.
Somehow, Keay is able to keep the reader on track, making sure we understand who the players are, where events are unfolding, and the various factors affecting the result. There is a lot of detail; the book is not for the casual reader or the faint-hearted. However, for one interested in how Britain became an Imperial Power almost in spite of itself, or how the decay of the Moghul Empire and the factions within the other native rulers both assisted and thwarted the Company, or how the Europeans engaged for over 200 years in violent conflict with each other in this area, despite peace in Europe, this is a fantastic read.
Somehow, Keay is able to keep the reader on track, making sure we understand who the players are, where events are unfolding, and the various factors affecting the result. There is a lot of detail; the book is not for the casual reader or the faint-hearted. However, for one interested in how Britain became an Imperial Power almost in spite of itself, or how the decay of the Moghul Empire and the factions within the other native rulers both assisted and thwarted the Company, or how the Europeans engaged for over 200 years in violent conflict with each other in this area, despite peace in Europe, this is a fantastic read.
July 27, 2022
A comprehensive view of the rise, operation and diminishing of the famous (or after reading this, infamous) British East Company.
Keay gives readers an insight of the people and places involved with the tale of this great company. One learns just how much luck really was involved with the Honorable Company.
The story of the BEIC is endlessly fascinating. It’s everything mutiny’s, pirates, insider trading, failing supply/demand, war, drug trade, fancy hats, nepotism, local riots and back handed 18th century British politics.
That said, the execution of the story has to be very detailed to extract the fascinating bits above. As such, The Honourable Company is quite a dry read and if you’re not paying attention you can quickly be overwhelmed with all the people and places you have to keep up with just to understand what’s going on.
The actually history? 10/10
The readability of the book? 6/10
Having read Return of a King by Dalrymple, I’m excited to read The Anarchy which is his take on the history of the East India company.
Keay gives readers an insight of the people and places involved with the tale of this great company. One learns just how much luck really was involved with the Honorable Company.
The story of the BEIC is endlessly fascinating. It’s everything mutiny’s, pirates, insider trading, failing supply/demand, war, drug trade, fancy hats, nepotism, local riots and back handed 18th century British politics.
That said, the execution of the story has to be very detailed to extract the fascinating bits above. As such, The Honourable Company is quite a dry read and if you’re not paying attention you can quickly be overwhelmed with all the people and places you have to keep up with just to understand what’s going on.
The actually history? 10/10
The readability of the book? 6/10
Having read Return of a King by Dalrymple, I’m excited to read The Anarchy which is his take on the history of the East India company.
May 20, 2018
I love history and I found the subject matter extremely fascinating. The writing, though, is a little dense. Fortunately, every time things started to get a little too dry for my liking, the book came up with something thrilling to renew my interest in it. Read this book only if you are deeply, and I mean really deeply, interested in the history of the world's first multinational corporation. Stick with it, and it'll take you on a voyage from England to America to Netherlands to Belgium to Australia to Singapore to Vietnam to Indonesia to Hong Kong to China to the Pacific islands to South Africa to, even, the Arctic, and, of course, deep inside and across India.
March 25, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. It taught me much about the East India Company I didn't know before as it is very comprehensive and based on thorough research. I like John Keay's style of writing.
It took me so long to read it completely as I used my grandson's advice "...to Google it..." whenever I met a place, term or person about which I knew nothing. I suppose I studied the book and its subject area, not scanned it quickly. This due to my great interest in India and the history of the British Empire.
I believe it is a book for those with similar interests, not one for light reading. I will read more books by John Keay.
It took me so long to read it completely as I used my grandson's advice "...to Google it..." whenever I met a place, term or person about which I knew nothing. I suppose I studied the book and its subject area, not scanned it quickly. This due to my great interest in India and the history of the British Empire.
I believe it is a book for those with similar interests, not one for light reading. I will read more books by John Keay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2017
I think 3 stars will be a bit too low, 3.5 will be the right rating. The book does not follow correct chronological order but relies on anecdotes to tell the story. The story of the transition of a mercantile company to one of the largest empire in the world should have focussed more on the political and administrative factors that underpinned the change, which is sorely missing. The author instead focussed on individual stories. Besides, I found the prose to be very boring. Really struggled to finish the book.
June 28, 2019
An interesting read but a lot of detail (places, people,alliances etc) which made for a difficult read! Probably better suited to a book rather than on a kindle.
August 21, 2017
I could see this being a riveting documentary documentary and the Keay does manage to sneak in some amusing quips.
This felt like skiing down a black diamond when I was looking for more of a green circle run. My comprehension was around 30% and found this worked better than Tylenol PM for bedtime reading. The main issues for me were a lack of foundation of European/Mughal history and a command for regional geography so it was difficult to keep track of all of the actors and military-mercantile ventures in play across the several ports of the East Indies.
If I had to do it again, I would supplement the book with a big map of the region and try to find some overviews on European military history from the 1600's-1800's and other briefer overviews of European trade within the East Indies.
This felt like skiing down a black diamond when I was looking for more of a green circle run. My comprehension was around 30% and found this worked better than Tylenol PM for bedtime reading. The main issues for me were a lack of foundation of European/Mughal history and a command for regional geography so it was difficult to keep track of all of the actors and military-mercantile ventures in play across the several ports of the East Indies.
If I had to do it again, I would supplement the book with a big map of the region and try to find some overviews on European military history from the 1600's-1800's and other briefer overviews of European trade within the East Indies.
August 4, 2014
I guess I only have myself to blame for feeling disappointed at the end of it. While this was a thoroughly researched and well written book, it was not the book I thought it would be.
This is basically an account of what the East India Company did in order to gain a foothold in India and a few more places. What this account sadly lacks is the other side of the story: what the Company's trade meant to the Western world, and England in particular. Cotton, spices, tea, coffee, opium, there are all these stories left untold. Keay writes a meticulous tale of who was leading what ship and where,and how many died in Bengal and so on. But I wanted the other tales, to be honest.
This is basically an account of what the East India Company did in order to gain a foothold in India and a few more places. What this account sadly lacks is the other side of the story: what the Company's trade meant to the Western world, and England in particular. Cotton, spices, tea, coffee, opium, there are all these stories left untold. Keay writes a meticulous tale of who was leading what ship and where,and how many died in Bengal and so on. But I wanted the other tales, to be honest.
January 16, 2015
I am so proud I finished this book. It was much longer and smarter and more detailed than what I normally read. Started it a loooong time ago.
Anyway, although there are a lot of names and dates in it, there are also many intriguing tales of personalities and powers and intrigue.
Basically, I was amazed at how bungling the company was and how it lasted so long and is credited with conquering India. Seems like all of the events very much could have gone the other way.
Fascinating subject!
Anyway, although there are a lot of names and dates in it, there are also many intriguing tales of personalities and powers and intrigue.
Basically, I was amazed at how bungling the company was and how it lasted so long and is credited with conquering India. Seems like all of the events very much could have gone the other way.
Fascinating subject!
August 2, 2020
شركة الهند الشرقية واجهة الاستعمار البريطاني في الشرق وشرارة انطلاق الامبراطورية... يؤرخ الكاتب لهذه الشركة العظيمة بأسلوب أخّاذ مبدع في السرد والحكاية ... فيعطيك اطلالة لطيفة على تلك الحقبة من التاريخ ذات الصراعات والطموح
~~~~~
كَتَبه معتمداً على وثائق تاريخية كثيرة، وعلى حسن التحليل والربط... فيربط الفقرات والأفكار والقصص والأشخاص بطريقة مبدعة ... ويورد بعض النصوص القديمة حتى لتشعر بحياة النص والقصة...أضف لذلك مسحة فكاهة تُسلّيك أثناء القراءة... وهذا ليس بالسهل فأن تورد أحداثاً تاريخية متباعدة المكان والزمان وتربط بينها وبين أشخاصها بهذه السلاسة والجمال حتى أنك لا تنكر منهم أحداً فهذه قدرة روائية فذة
~~~~~
ولأن الأحداث بذلك التباعد الزماني المكاني لا تتعلم كثيراً بسهولة.. فقد شعرت أن هناك فراغ في مجريات الأحداث أو السلسلة... ولذا بشكل عام لم تكن القراءة سريعة وكنتُ بحاجة لتركيز شديد ومراجعة جوجل كل فترة، ليس للكلمات الغريبة الكثيرة فقط بل وللبحث في الموضوع حيث يفترض الكاتب أننا نعرف الكثير من التاريخ مثل الصراع البريطاني الداخلي بداية القرن السابع عشر وغير ذلك
ولكني لاحظت في سرده للأحداث كلها أنه لا يعنيه حق من باطل... فالكاتب يعرض الأحداث كما هي ويبرر للبريطانيين أنهم تجار ولا يتكلم كثيراً عن غيرهم، أقصد ليس عنده ظالم ومظلوم أو معتد أو معتداً عليه وإنما هي نزاعات وحسب... وعندي هذه الحيادية خاطئة... وقد يقول قائل ستعرف ذلك من الأحداث، أقول في غالب أحداث هذا الكتاب هذا غير معروف وربما بتعمّد من الكاتب كما أراه
ووجدت أن هناك الكثير من التاريخ المجهول بالنسبة لنا، أقصد تاريخنا المهم والذي لم ندرسه في المدارس على أهميته... ومن ذلك تاريخ السيطرة البريطانية والأوربية بشكل عام على الخليج ودار الإسلام ومن ذلك تاريخ الهند أيام الحكم المغولي وكيف انهار وكذلك شرق آسيا من اندونيسيا وماليزيا وكيف تشكلت سنغافورا... كنت أتطلع لكل ذلك في هذا الكتاب والذي يحكي قصة شركة الهند الشرقية والمسؤولة عن كثير من التاريخ... وللأسف لم أجد إلا إشارات
وكثرت الأجزاء التي تحكي عن مداولات الشركة والسوق والأطراف الفاعلة فمللت جداً ولم يكن هذا ما أريد
~~~~~
ولكنه كان ممتعاً في أجزاء أخرى كثيرة منه فكُتُب التاريخ جميلة وهذا تاريخ عظيم بلا شك والكاتب أسلوبه ظريف ويشجعك على القراءة وفيه معلومات ثمينة جداً... ومن ذلك فهمت تجارة التوابل وهي كانت البداية... بدايته ممتعة فعلاً
وقد وجدت أموراً أخرى... وجدت أنه تاريخ لشركة الهند الشرقية وليس تاريخاً للإمبراطورية البريطانية والفرق كان أكبر مما تصورت... ببساطة كان هَمّ الشركة التجارة فقط... ولكنهم استطاعوا أن يكسبوا الكثير من حصولهم على حقوق حماية وجباية في مناطق في الهند الأمر الذي فتح شهية الحكومة البريطانية على ما يبدو... ولاحظت أن الأوروبيون لم يكن شغلهم الشاغل الاحتلال والتوسع على الأقل في البدء أقصد القرن السابع عشر والثامن عشر وإنما كانوا تجاراً ومستكشفين... ولكنهم وجدوا عالماً إسلامياً ضعيفاً جداً... ولقمة سائغة
وقد علمتهم التجارة الشيء الكثير ومن ذلك معلومات عن الخصم، والقوة العسكرية لحمايتهم وحماية تجارتهم، وكذلك الدبلوماسية وأسلوب الحوار والهدايا لتوثيق العلاقات... كل ذلك بفضل التجارة وكما ترى هي أمور ممهدة للاحتلال العسكري أو السيطرة على الأقل
حسب فهمي من الكتاب أنهم ببساطة يتاجرون مع الناس حسب اتفاقيات وعقود ولكن يستخدم جميع الظروف والفرص لزيادة بنوده لصالحهم ومن ثم ادعاء الحق وعندهم القوة العسكرية والتي لا يستخدمونها إلا لاسترداد حقوقهم كما يقولون ولك أن تتخيل العقود التي يكتبها القوي فلا هي منصفة ولا تطبيقها بالعدل ممكن... بل وهناك الكثير من الوقائع التي يستخدمون فيها الحيلة بل والخيانة حسب المصلحة
~~~~~
طبعاً كل ذلك كان يسهل بمجرد إظهار جوانب من القوة العسكرية... وبالذات التخطيط العسكري والتكتيك في الميدان والتدريب وليس الأسلحة نفسها فقط
فالتفوّق الإداري عندهم في جميع المجالات سبق التفوّق المادّي... ومن ذلك بالطبع القضاء ومنه تأسيس وإدارة الشركات... والشركة نفسها سبقت عصرها في التعقيد الهيكلي من مجلس إدارة وجمعية عمومية وغير ذلك ومن ذلك الإدارية العسكرية من تدريب وتكتيك وأساليب ميدانية وتنظيمية
~~~~
وقد لاحظت أن سيطرتهم كانت متدرجة جداً وأخذت عشرات بل ربما أكثر من مئة سنة حتى تتمكّن... وقد اتخذوا خطوات كل منها على حدة لا تبدو أنها ذات شأن ولكن بمجموعها وبمرور الزمن أحكمت قبضتهم على الشرق... فهم يبنون حصونهم بالمعاهدات، تخيل تبني حصنك في أرض غير أرضك وأصحاب الأرض راضون لأن لهم مصالح، والسلطان الفاسد قد أخذ حصته
فلفترة من الزمن قبل الاحتلال الفعلي البريطاني للهند كان حكامها المغول يعتمدون اقتصادياً بشكل كبير على تجارة شركة الهند الشرقية بل ويعتمدون على حماية تجارتهم (الهنود) على قوات الشركة تنقلها في بحر العرب. وهذه الاعتمادية هي لا شك بداية الهزيمة
وقد كانت ديار الاسلام سواء في اندونيسيا أو الهند دار حرية وتجارة وانفتاح وحسن ظن بالآخرين ربما لدرجة السذاجة... ولهذا رأيت أن الذي سهل لهم السيطرة التامة ثلاثة أمور: أولها حرية في بلاد الإسلام والدخول والخروج الحر... وثانيها سلاح الأوروبي وتكتيكاته العسكرية والدبلوماسية المتطورة... وثالثها فساد السلاطين الواضح
والعجيب أنه على ما يبدو فهذا يحدث الآن كذلك: فحرية الدخول والخروج موجودة ومقننة ظاهرياً وإن كانت بعض الدول التي تعارض تصبح منبوذة وعدوة للتجارة العالمية... والسلاح أوضح ما يكون... أما الفساد فلا أدري
~~~~
في أول رحلة للشركة كانوا قراصنة يعتدون على تجارة غيرهم مثل البرتغاليين... نعم بينهم حرب ولكنها قرصنة سفن تجارية واستحواذ على كل شيء وحتى البشر... وكذلك تراخيص الشركات الأخرى ... ولكن ما يميز الشركة هو نظرها طويل الأمد وأنها بحاجة لعلاقات جيدة للتجارة وبالتالي ليس من مصلحتهم أن يشتهروا بالخيانة والقرصنة
ذكر الكاتب نبذة قليلة جداً عن تجارة القهوة واليمن وعن الشاي والصين
1622 طلب شاه فارس من الشركة مساعدته في طرد البرتغاليين من هرمز وقد نجحوا بحرياً والفرس برياً.. ولكن ألم يكن سكان هرمز أصلاً عرباً؟... وبسقوط هرمز سقطت قوة البرتغاليين كلها في الشرق وعملياً ورث الانجليز مستعمرات البرتغاليين
~~~~~
كَتَبه معتمداً على وثائق تاريخية كثيرة، وعلى حسن التحليل والربط... فيربط الفقرات والأفكار والقصص والأشخاص بطريقة مبدعة ... ويورد بعض النصوص القديمة حتى لتشعر بحياة النص والقصة...أضف لذلك مسحة فكاهة تُسلّيك أثناء القراءة... وهذا ليس بالسهل فأن تورد أحداثاً تاريخية متباعدة المكان والزمان وتربط بينها وبين أشخاصها بهذه السلاسة والجمال حتى أنك لا تنكر منهم أحداً فهذه قدرة روائية فذة
~~~~~
ولأن الأحداث بذلك التباعد الزماني المكاني لا تتعلم كثيراً بسهولة.. فقد شعرت أن هناك فراغ في مجريات الأحداث أو السلسلة... ولذا بشكل عام لم تكن القراءة سريعة وكنتُ بحاجة لتركيز شديد ومراجعة جوجل كل فترة، ليس للكلمات الغريبة الكثيرة فقط بل وللبحث في الموضوع حيث يفترض الكاتب أننا نعرف الكثير من التاريخ مثل الصراع البريطاني الداخلي بداية القرن السابع عشر وغير ذلك
ولكني لاحظت في سرده للأحداث كلها أنه لا يعنيه حق من باطل... فالكاتب يعرض الأحداث كما هي ويبرر للبريطانيين أنهم تجار ولا يتكلم كثيراً عن غيرهم، أقصد ليس عنده ظالم ومظلوم أو معتد أو معتداً عليه وإنما هي نزاعات وحسب... وعندي هذه الحيادية خاطئة... وقد يقول قائل ستعرف ذلك من الأحداث، أقول في غالب أحداث هذا الكتاب هذا غير معروف وربما بتعمّد من الكاتب كما أراه
ووجدت أن هناك الكثير من التاريخ المجهول بالنسبة لنا، أقصد تاريخنا المهم والذي لم ندرسه في المدارس على أهميته... ومن ذلك تاريخ السيطرة البريطانية والأوربية بشكل عام على الخليج ودار الإسلام ومن ذلك تاريخ الهند أيام الحكم المغولي وكيف انهار وكذلك شرق آسيا من اندونيسيا وماليزيا وكيف تشكلت سنغافورا... كنت أتطلع لكل ذلك في هذا الكتاب والذي يحكي قصة شركة الهند الشرقية والمسؤولة عن كثير من التاريخ... وللأسف لم أجد إلا إشارات
وكثرت الأجزاء التي تحكي عن مداولات الشركة والسوق والأطراف الفاعلة فمللت جداً ولم يكن هذا ما أريد
~~~~~
ولكنه كان ممتعاً في أجزاء أخرى كثيرة منه فكُتُب التاريخ جميلة وهذا تاريخ عظيم بلا شك والكاتب أسلوبه ظريف ويشجعك على القراءة وفيه معلومات ثمينة جداً... ومن ذلك فهمت تجارة التوابل وهي كانت البداية... بدايته ممتعة فعلاً
وقد وجدت أموراً أخرى... وجدت أنه تاريخ لشركة الهند الشرقية وليس تاريخاً للإمبراطورية البريطانية والفرق كان أكبر مما تصورت... ببساطة كان هَمّ الشركة التجارة فقط... ولكنهم استطاعوا أن يكسبوا الكثير من حصولهم على حقوق حماية وجباية في مناطق في الهند الأمر الذي فتح شهية الحكومة البريطانية على ما يبدو... ولاحظت أن الأوروبيون لم يكن شغلهم الشاغل الاحتلال والتوسع على الأقل في البدء أقصد القرن السابع عشر والثامن عشر وإنما كانوا تجاراً ومستكشفين... ولكنهم وجدوا عالماً إسلامياً ضعيفاً جداً... ولقمة سائغة
وقد علمتهم التجارة الشيء الكثير ومن ذلك معلومات عن الخصم، والقوة العسكرية لحمايتهم وحماية تجارتهم، وكذلك الدبلوماسية وأسلوب الحوار والهدايا لتوثيق العلاقات... كل ذلك بفضل التجارة وكما ترى هي أمور ممهدة للاحتلال العسكري أو السيطرة على الأقل
حسب فهمي من الكتاب أنهم ببساطة يتاجرون مع الناس حسب اتفاقيات وعقود ولكن يستخدم جميع الظروف والفرص لزيادة بنوده لصالحهم ومن ثم ادعاء الحق وعندهم القوة العسكرية والتي لا يستخدمونها إلا لاسترداد حقوقهم كما يقولون ولك أن تتخيل العقود التي يكتبها القوي فلا هي منصفة ولا تطبيقها بالعدل ممكن... بل وهناك الكثير من الوقائع التي يستخدمون فيها الحيلة بل والخيانة حسب المصلحة
~~~~~
طبعاً كل ذلك كان يسهل بمجرد إظهار جوانب من القوة العسكرية... وبالذات التخطيط العسكري والتكتيك في الميدان والتدريب وليس الأسلحة نفسها فقط
فالتفوّق الإداري عندهم في جميع المجالات سبق التفوّق المادّي... ومن ذلك بالطبع القضاء ومنه تأسيس وإدارة الشركات... والشركة نفسها سبقت عصرها في التعقيد الهيكلي من مجلس إدارة وجمعية عمومية وغير ذلك ومن ذلك الإدارية العسكرية من تدريب وتكتيك وأساليب ميدانية وتنظيمية
~~~~
وقد لاحظت أن سيطرتهم كانت متدرجة جداً وأخذت عشرات بل ربما أكثر من مئة سنة حتى تتمكّن... وقد اتخذوا خطوات كل منها على حدة لا تبدو أنها ذات شأن ولكن بمجموعها وبمرور الزمن أحكمت قبضتهم على الشرق... فهم يبنون حصونهم بالمعاهدات، تخيل تبني حصنك في أرض غير أرضك وأصحاب الأرض راضون لأن لهم مصالح، والسلطان الفاسد قد أخذ حصته
فلفترة من الزمن قبل الاحتلال الفعلي البريطاني للهند كان حكامها المغول يعتمدون اقتصادياً بشكل كبير على تجارة شركة الهند الشرقية بل ويعتمدون على حماية تجارتهم (الهنود) على قوات الشركة تنقلها في بحر العرب. وهذه الاعتمادية هي لا شك بداية الهزيمة
وقد كانت ديار الاسلام سواء في اندونيسيا أو الهند دار حرية وتجارة وانفتاح وحسن ظن بالآخرين ربما لدرجة السذاجة... ولهذا رأيت أن الذي سهل لهم السيطرة التامة ثلاثة أمور: أولها حرية في بلاد الإسلام والدخول والخروج الحر... وثانيها سلاح الأوروبي وتكتيكاته العسكرية والدبلوماسية المتطورة... وثالثها فساد السلاطين الواضح
والعجيب أنه على ما يبدو فهذا يحدث الآن كذلك: فحرية الدخول والخروج موجودة ومقننة ظاهرياً وإن كانت بعض الدول التي تعارض تصبح منبوذة وعدوة للتجارة العالمية... والسلاح أوضح ما يكون... أما الفساد فلا أدري
~~~~
في أول رحلة للشركة كانوا قراصنة يعتدون على تجارة غيرهم مثل البرتغاليين... نعم بينهم حرب ولكنها قرصنة سفن تجارية واستحواذ على كل شيء وحتى البشر... وكذلك تراخيص الشركات الأخرى ... ولكن ما يميز الشركة هو نظرها طويل الأمد وأنها بحاجة لعلاقات جيدة للتجارة وبالتالي ليس من مصلحتهم أن يشتهروا بالخيانة والقرصنة
ذكر الكاتب نبذة قليلة جداً عن تجارة القهوة واليمن وعن الشاي والصين
1622 طلب شاه فارس من الشركة مساعدته في طرد البرتغاليين من هرمز وقد نجحوا بحرياً والفرس برياً.. ولكن ألم يكن سكان هرمز أصلاً عرباً؟... وبسقوط هرمز سقطت قوة البرتغاليين كلها في الشرق وعملياً ورث الانجليز مستعمرات البرتغاليين
December 18, 2018
Good history but a little dry and confusing.
Link to my review of this book:
https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2018/...
Link to my review of this book:
https://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2018/...
January 5, 2020
After finishing, “A history of the World’s Most Liberal City” and “Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600 – 1900”, this book was the obvious addition to the trilogy. The theme in all these books is rich merchants of so-called civilized Countries sending out ships and men to exploit the wealth and natural resources of the so-called uncivilized Countries therefore “The honorable Company” was the perfect extension of this study. It is the story of the English East India Company, a company that became the greatest trading company of all time. For more than two centuries, The Company dominated trade, raised armies, demolished nations and established one of the most far-flung empires the world has ever known. Without it there is no British Empire.
John Keay delivers a very thorough look at the English East India Company (the Company) from its origins to its demise and assimilation as a Department of the British government. The thoroughness of the research performed by Keay is why this book was such a tedious and difficult reading experience. Keavy did not chronically build his history of The Company; he moves forward and backward with his tale and this causes confusion for his readers. He also uses Indian names and phrases to describe people and places and this technique confuses the reader even further. These things make for a slow plodding experience for the reader, yet, the reader gets what he bargained for, namely, a history based on primary sources describing The Company and its two-hundred-year history.
Many interesting things emanate from these pages, among them was the fact that the Far East had more developed societies than Western Europe and in 1613 much bigger cities than London. Spices were the original sought out products, yet, many other products were discovered during the trade, for instance coffee, and tea and tea become the largest import from China. During this time of conquest and trade, many worldwide events impacted The Company. The Seven-year War and the American Revolution influenced the Company’s activities in India, by syphoning off resources and even soldiers. Keay did a great job of describing the events leading to and the tragedy of the fall of Calcutta and the story of “the Black Hole” of Calcutta. Keay spent substantial portions of his text describing the history of trade and conquest of India, maybe too much, yet, it is China that becomes the biggest trading partner of The Company. Great cities like Singapore and Hong Kong are built by the Company and these great Cities impact world trade today. Names like Lord Robert Clive, Warren Hastings and Thomas Raffles are not well known, yet, their courage and vision built the Company.
As stated previously this was at times a difficult study, Keay packs this volume with names, dates and events that sometimes read like a text book, yet, it delivers so much history that the reader will come away with a better understanding of World history during the period of 1600 to 1800, and, how this trading Company built the British Empire.
John Keay delivers a very thorough look at the English East India Company (the Company) from its origins to its demise and assimilation as a Department of the British government. The thoroughness of the research performed by Keay is why this book was such a tedious and difficult reading experience. Keavy did not chronically build his history of The Company; he moves forward and backward with his tale and this causes confusion for his readers. He also uses Indian names and phrases to describe people and places and this technique confuses the reader even further. These things make for a slow plodding experience for the reader, yet, the reader gets what he bargained for, namely, a history based on primary sources describing The Company and its two-hundred-year history.
Many interesting things emanate from these pages, among them was the fact that the Far East had more developed societies than Western Europe and in 1613 much bigger cities than London. Spices were the original sought out products, yet, many other products were discovered during the trade, for instance coffee, and tea and tea become the largest import from China. During this time of conquest and trade, many worldwide events impacted The Company. The Seven-year War and the American Revolution influenced the Company’s activities in India, by syphoning off resources and even soldiers. Keay did a great job of describing the events leading to and the tragedy of the fall of Calcutta and the story of “the Black Hole” of Calcutta. Keay spent substantial portions of his text describing the history of trade and conquest of India, maybe too much, yet, it is China that becomes the biggest trading partner of The Company. Great cities like Singapore and Hong Kong are built by the Company and these great Cities impact world trade today. Names like Lord Robert Clive, Warren Hastings and Thomas Raffles are not well known, yet, their courage and vision built the Company.
As stated previously this was at times a difficult study, Keay packs this volume with names, dates and events that sometimes read like a text book, yet, it delivers so much history that the reader will come away with a better understanding of World history during the period of 1600 to 1800, and, how this trading Company built the British Empire.
January 13, 2024
John Keay’s The Honourable Company is a lucid history of the British Empire’s most storied commercial enterprise – the East India Company. While Keay’s penchant for stylistic flamboyance and discursive narration is occasionally a handicap, his place as an enrapturing annalist of Eastern historical yarns is unquestioned. With his characteristically extravagant pen, Keay has written a riveting account that captures how a modest band of “gentlemen in trade” orchestrated a commercial opening of the Indian subcontinent to the Western world, a manifest destiny that birthed the British Raj. As Keay writes, the allure of commercial prosperity, pressure from international competition to monopolize trading privileges, and the self-reinforcing need to maintain a growing footprint on colonized territory led to a whole new industry larger than just trade. It became a means of statecraft, an imperial instrument of empire building.
Originally chartered with no more than trading rights, the Company soon secured the right to hold, fortify, and settle territory. With the prospect of Indian prosperity beckoning, Keay shows how the Company leveraged these new privileges to establish bases, amass firepower, and erect an efficient bureaucratic apparatus with leaders appointed directly by London. As Keay frames it, it was a commercial excursion that eventually got out of hand. This is the author’s singular lamentation: men who originally came to trade eventually found themselves in positions to reign. Commercial greed and political mayhem had besmirched the humble origins of a Company whose servants “had seldom craved political supremacy” – just “informal commercial domination.” By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Company’s India business had evaporated, quickly supplanted by direct control of the Crown. However, Keay shows that its legacy was far larger: it had enabled the dominance of the British empire in Eastern waters for a century.
Originally chartered with no more than trading rights, the Company soon secured the right to hold, fortify, and settle territory. With the prospect of Indian prosperity beckoning, Keay shows how the Company leveraged these new privileges to establish bases, amass firepower, and erect an efficient bureaucratic apparatus with leaders appointed directly by London. As Keay frames it, it was a commercial excursion that eventually got out of hand. This is the author’s singular lamentation: men who originally came to trade eventually found themselves in positions to reign. Commercial greed and political mayhem had besmirched the humble origins of a Company whose servants “had seldom craved political supremacy” – just “informal commercial domination.” By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Company’s India business had evaporated, quickly supplanted by direct control of the Crown. However, Keay shows that its legacy was far larger: it had enabled the dominance of the British empire in Eastern waters for a century.
December 8, 2019
The book covers the period of roughly 1600 to 1813, or the start of British involvement in India to the founding of Singapore and the end of the company's monopoly status. I found the book interesting on two fronts: it gives me some Indian history (from the particular viewpoint of the British) and a view of unbridled capitalism.
I had already learned that India before the Raj wasn't a single nation under a single government, but a collection of sometimes related, sometimes not related, often warring kingdoms and duchies of various sizes and power. Now I learned how it wasn't the Kings of England who subdued the various Indian states but "the Honourable Company", bent on profits through nearly any means.
The first two thirds or three-quarters of the book were, for me, the most entertaining. The narrative gets progressively messier as it proceeds toward the beginning of the 19th century; as the power of the Company declines and is replaced by the State. The author does his best to keep things interesting, but admits near the end of the book that the tale is getting harder to tell.
Throughout the book, Keay kept me entertained with some lively language and wordplay based on the writings of his original sources. Also, there are a number of interesting and amusing anecdotes and some insights into how even modern authors find themselves supporting colonial sensibilities.
A big takeaway for me was the extreme nature of unrestricted capitalism. History shows us that, if left to its own ends, capitalism would replace the state in every way: building infrastructure, dispensing "justice", fighting wars, engaging in piracy, and so on. If your only constitution is a fiduciary duty to increase profits for the shareholders, you'll be much more oppressive than a state with a robust constitution detailing its powers and the rights of its subjects.
I had already learned that India before the Raj wasn't a single nation under a single government, but a collection of sometimes related, sometimes not related, often warring kingdoms and duchies of various sizes and power. Now I learned how it wasn't the Kings of England who subdued the various Indian states but "the Honourable Company", bent on profits through nearly any means.
The first two thirds or three-quarters of the book were, for me, the most entertaining. The narrative gets progressively messier as it proceeds toward the beginning of the 19th century; as the power of the Company declines and is replaced by the State. The author does his best to keep things interesting, but admits near the end of the book that the tale is getting harder to tell.
Throughout the book, Keay kept me entertained with some lively language and wordplay based on the writings of his original sources. Also, there are a number of interesting and amusing anecdotes and some insights into how even modern authors find themselves supporting colonial sensibilities.
A big takeaway for me was the extreme nature of unrestricted capitalism. History shows us that, if left to its own ends, capitalism would replace the state in every way: building infrastructure, dispensing "justice", fighting wars, engaging in piracy, and so on. If your only constitution is a fiduciary duty to increase profits for the shareholders, you'll be much more oppressive than a state with a robust constitution detailing its powers and the rights of its subjects.
June 19, 2021
Keay's history of the EIC gives the reader a full sense of the origins and initial undertakings like very few do. Instead of glossing over the intial charter in 1600 and skipping straight to the British Raj, Keay gives the reader an extremely detailed look at how a handful of sailors and merchants turned a small commercial enterprise into a force that turned England into a global empire.
Lesser known sailors, London merchants, and board members are explored in detail during the Company's early operations in Indonesia and their early conflicts with the Dutch and the VOC. We get a good sense for how the Company survived, expanded, and refused to be knocked out of the international trading game despite quite a few hiccups, militarily and financially, along the way.
My only complaints are that the section dealing with the Carnatic War was a bit dry and stretched on for too long and that 1800 - 1858, The Duke of Wellington's leadership, and shipping Opium to China, is barely touched on.
I would recommend this book at anyone interested in the EIC. 1600 - 1773 must have been a wild time to have been alive and an explorer-adventurer. Keay really brings to life the seemingly endless possibilities the early Company men must have been feeling, sailing all the way from England to Indonesia, India, the South Pacific, and China.
Lesser known sailors, London merchants, and board members are explored in detail during the Company's early operations in Indonesia and their early conflicts with the Dutch and the VOC. We get a good sense for how the Company survived, expanded, and refused to be knocked out of the international trading game despite quite a few hiccups, militarily and financially, along the way.
My only complaints are that the section dealing with the Carnatic War was a bit dry and stretched on for too long and that 1800 - 1858, The Duke of Wellington's leadership, and shipping Opium to China, is barely touched on.
I would recommend this book at anyone interested in the EIC. 1600 - 1773 must have been a wild time to have been alive and an explorer-adventurer. Keay really brings to life the seemingly endless possibilities the early Company men must have been feeling, sailing all the way from England to Indonesia, India, the South Pacific, and China.
July 5, 2019
Four stars for the author's style: he's witty and knows how to tell a good story. For example, because it could take up to a year for letters to go back and forth between the Company in London and the employees in India, Burma, and beyond, wars continued until well after peace was declared back home (once the news was received, everyone just laid down their arms as far as I can tell). Similarly, letters with strict instructions arrived long after the situation had changed, many of the principals having died of disease (rampant) or in battle or simply sailed off and never been heard of again. The Company also sent very scolding letters about everyone's behavior, including the huge expenses claimed for food and drink, which are quite amusing. I remember being surprised in Morocco to visit the impressive Portuguese fort in Essaouira, but having read this I now understand a bit better how that came about. But three stars because it's so "richly detailed" as a friend says of fact-laden narratives. I kept calculating how many pages were left, but I did appreciate my burgeoning understanding of the times and places.
May 31, 2021
As an Indian, you read a lot in School about how the English cleverly took over the country by systematically allying with local princes and using superior military technology and tactics. What they didn't teach you is how most of the clever alliances were not so much a result of a multi-century master plan, but a combination of headstrong merchants, insecurity at the success of other European powers, and a need for local territory to conduct trade predictably.
The book also dwells on interesting international connections, how the British insecurities after the loss of the US played heavily into the Parliament's interference in India. Warren Hastings' preoccupation with Tipu Sultan's Mysore may have lead to the French superiority in S.E Asia. Overall, this book does an excellent job of filling in the gaps in the staccato history of the Company/British Raj till the First War of Independence.
An annoying feature of this book is how people, last mentioned a hundred pages earlier, are casually referenced to make a point. One is better off reading the book in three or fewer sessions.
The book also dwells on interesting international connections, how the British insecurities after the loss of the US played heavily into the Parliament's interference in India. Warren Hastings' preoccupation with Tipu Sultan's Mysore may have lead to the French superiority in S.E Asia. Overall, this book does an excellent job of filling in the gaps in the staccato history of the Company/British Raj till the First War of Independence.
An annoying feature of this book is how people, last mentioned a hundred pages earlier, are casually referenced to make a point. One is better off reading the book in three or fewer sessions.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews