1600–1650
The British, Dutch, Danish and French East India Companies are founded at different times over the course of the seventeenth century.
Before setting their sights on developing a military and political presence in India (as the Portuguese had already done a century earlier), these firms operate as middlemen in the Indian Ocean trade and open ‘factories’ (pre-industrial workshops) in various towns along coastal South Asia. Their primary interests are textiles, spices and slaves, and they compete fiercely with one another, often engaging in maritime battles that affect the diplomatic relations between European powers and local rulers in Asia and Africa.
Alpers, Edward A., and Chhaya Goswami. Transregional Trade and Traders: Situating Gujarat in the Indian Ocean from Early Times to 1900. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Pearson, M. N. The Portuguese in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Prakash, Om. European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-colonial India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Roy, Tirthankar, and Giorgio Riello. How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500-1850. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
First Published: March 11, 2024
Last Updated: August 5, 2024