The East India Company 1749-1800: The Evolution of a Territorial Strategy and The Changing Role of the Directors

Abstract

into the East Indies " (the first of several forms of what we will refer to as the East India Company) received its charter. By way of contrast, in 1606, "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia " received its charter [11, Vol. IlI, p. 466]. Between 1616 and 1621 the Virginia company established numerousubsidiary companies to make glass and beads, fish, trade furs, publish an apparel magazine, build boats and even import "Maids to Virginia to be made Wives " [11, Vol. III, p.467]. These two companies (two of the earliest joint-stock companies) reflect two fundamentally different strategies. The EIC was first and foremost a "trading " company,!ntent on making profits through trading in the far East. Capital was invested in merchandise rather than in fixed assetsuch as ships or factories. Permanent settlements (factories) were grudgingly established only to the extenthey facilitated trade. The traders ' bargaining power was enhanced if they could negotiate when the demand for their goods was high rather than when a shipment happened to arrive. For the first century and a half the strategy was

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