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The East India Company: A History from Beginning to End
★ The East India Company ★ * * *Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free BONUS Inside!* * * Read On Your Computer, MAC, Smartphone, Kindle Reader, iPad, or Tablet. Founded at the dawn of the seventeenth century as European nations were establishing global empires, the English East India Company would become a vital part of burgeoning British supremacy. Begun as a joint-stock company for trade with the East Indies, this organization would evolve into one of the world’s first capitalistic corporations. Inside you will read about... ✓ The English in the Atlantic Era and the Founding of the East India Company ✓ The 17th Struggling, Building, and Growing with Violence ✓ The East India Company Enters the 18th Century ✓ The British Government Steps In ✓ China and the Opium Trade ✓ Growing British Involvement in the 19th Century ✓ The End of the East India Company And much more! Over the course of their 250+ years, the East India Company had built a global trading empire, raised an army and waged war, and conquered vast territory, including the entire subcontinent of India. Without their involvement, the British presence in India would look very different in the historical record. Though the company was dissolved by 1874, their influence on world history cannot be overstated. Series The East India Companies Book 1
110 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 21, 2016
358 people are currently reading
575 people want to read
About the author
Henry Freeman
52 books90 followersHenry Freeman is an author and archaeologist. He has a passion for history and loves to travel the world exploring various historical sites.
Henry graduated from the University of Cambridge with a double major in History and Archaeology and shortly after that started his career as an archaeologist.
After traveling the world getting first-hand experience with history, Henry was determined to take up his dream of becoming a best-selling author.
He decided to partner up with the newly formed publishing company Hourly History writing short, concise and straightforward history books that never takes more than one hour to read.
Henry graduated from the University of Cambridge with a double major in History and Archaeology and shortly after that started his career as an archaeologist.
After traveling the world getting first-hand experience with history, Henry was determined to take up his dream of becoming a best-selling author.
He decided to partner up with the newly formed publishing company Hourly History writing short, concise and straightforward history books that never takes more than one hour to read.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 3, 2017
If history books had click bait, this would be it. As a historical account about the East India Company it is an okay introduction. However, since it has no referencing done, it doesn't give a single account or quotation from actual people involved in the East India Company, and it skips a large chunk of their exploits and concluded on an overtly simplified reason, it's not a fruitful book to read.
It doesn't even justify its own case. On one occasion it states, with fullest confidence, that slavery was used as a means for the East India Company to retain power. However, there is no context, or reference point available through which we could see it as an opinion or a historically accurate fact.
If you really want to know how the East India Company, I recommend going for "A Matter of Honor" by the late Philip Mason. If you want to know more about the East India Company, then "Plain Tales from the Raj" by Charles Allen is an excellent recommendation.
In case you did buy this book (as I did), it's only a good introduction. My recommendation would be to sell it at quarter price and hope that you get your money back.
It doesn't even justify its own case. On one occasion it states, with fullest confidence, that slavery was used as a means for the East India Company to retain power. However, there is no context, or reference point available through which we could see it as an opinion or a historically accurate fact.
If you really want to know how the East India Company, I recommend going for "A Matter of Honor" by the late Philip Mason. If you want to know more about the East India Company, then "Plain Tales from the Raj" by Charles Allen is an excellent recommendation.
In case you did buy this book (as I did), it's only a good introduction. My recommendation would be to sell it at quarter price and hope that you get your money back.
April 27, 2018
Just like the most history books of our time, this book, too, misses one important point that Spain was Portugal in the late-16th to mid-17th century.
(Kindle Location 35)
Thus it was in the euphoric shadow of the victory over the Spanish Armada that Queen Elizabeth I accepted a proposal from London merchants to send ships to the Indian Ocean, where Spain was not as dominant...
But Portugal under the Spanish “Habsburg” monarchy was, and both the Dutch and English had hard time to overcome the Portuguese dominance in the region until the mid-17th century with the downfall of Habsburg domination of Europe and the end of the Iberian Union.
(Kindle Location 52)
...Even though the Dutch East India Company was not officially incorporated until 1602 (two years after their English counterpart), the Dutch had been a formidable presence in the East Indies for many years, as had the Portuguese. During the 16th century, the Dutch struggled against the Portuguese, who had dominated the spice trade in the region and against whom the English would also struggle...
Truth is the Dutch Republic was "practically" independent from and now enemy of Spanish Empire fighting for its official independence from Habsburg-Spain, while the Kingdom of Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy. This tells how dominant first global maritime hegemon Spain actually was.
I don't understand why no history book counts Portuguese naval power as part of Spanish armada while the kingdom was completely annexed and controlled under Spanish rule. When Portugal proclaimed its independence in the mid-17th century, the Spanish court labeled the Portuguese “rebels and traitors.”
(Kindle Locations 213-222)
...When hostilities between the French and English began, India became another site of conflict. The combatants and their Indian (as in India, not Native American) allies met fairly early in the war that broke out in 1754. The Battle of Plassey occurred in 1757. Plassey was then the capital of Bengal, and it was headed by a still-independent Nawab who allied his territory with the French. Despite this battle being a huge victory for the British East India Company (whose forces fought in lieu of the actual British military), the 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the war gave most of the French territory captured in the East Indies back to the French. In India, they were allowed to keep some military presence. However, the French military threat was virtually eliminated by the end of the 18th century, and this event greatly weakened it, despite rearing its head again during the American Revolution (remember, the French entered the war on the side of America, against the British). So, while the Battle of Plassey did not have a great impact on the outcome of the Seven Years’ War itself, it was extremely consequential for the British East India Company; it was the first step toward solidifying their control over Bengal by weakening the French and defeating the Nawab at once.
The French actually controlled a large part of the Subcontinent until she lost it all to the British by the end of 18th century, and the Seven Years' War was only the early part of the Second Global War of Powershift and Hegemony, like the one named the Great War or the 1st World War during the 3rd Global War of Powershift and Hegemony.
With his interpretation of history quite balanced, the author untangles many truthful facts that we usually miss, like the real power gap between two militaries of Mughal Indian Empire and Great Britain up until the mid-18th century: The English (British since 1707) had to beg for mercy until then.
It is true that most of the European engagements with the local imperial forces in India and China ended up with European defeat until the late-18th century. No matter how much they tried they couldn’t match for the population and wealth of the empires in India and China until the Industrial Revolution turned the world upside down.
And there are still much more facts we can learn from this book:
(Kindle Location 231)
...And, as the Industrial Revolution in Britain dawned, British manufacturing came to depend more and more heavily on raw materials (such as cloth for the textile industry) produced in places like India.
(Kindle Location 231)
...At the same time, though, Parliament and Britain were growing more dependent on the company; fifteen percent of British imports were from India, and almost all Indian imports came into the country through the East India Company. In addition, Parliament actually borrowed money from the wealthy company in 1742...
(Kindle Locations 274-283)
While the death toll outweighs any financial loss, the company suffered so much that they neared bankruptcy and had to turn to the British government for help. In response, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773, which is notorious in American history as one of the events that led to the American Revolution. While this act is usually taught as a tax on tea in the colonies, that is not quite accurate. The act actually allowed the East India Company greater leverage in its trade dealings with the American colonies. It allowed the East India Company to avoid paying taxes on tea imports, which drove their prices down compared with that of all other tea; most of the tea consumed by American colonists was Dutch tea, imported illegally. Even though this actually made tea in the colonies cheaper, the colonists saw it as unfair to local tea dealers, and in a grander scope, they worried about this encroachment on their sovereignty: If the British Parliament could place this unfair exemption on East India Company tea purely for their financial benefit, then who knew what else they could enforce? The event led to the Boston Tea Party (remember, it was East India Company tea that was thrown into Boston Harbor), a major cause of the American Revolution. All of these events were truly global in scope...
Clearly it was the British Parliament, not the powerless King George III. We see what is wrong with our public history education in America, which portraits George III as a tyrant against the American freedom.
(Kindle Location 116)
...The growth of the English in India has certainly had an enormous impact on world history, but it is important to remember that it came at great human cost.
The author's voice and perspective are balanced enough, and that's not all.
(Kindle Location 180)
The British East India Company had survived its first century. It had also survived a very turbulent period in British history: the English Revolution/Civil War and reinstatement of the monarchy, as well as institutional changes to Parliament...
The best about this book is, unlike its counterpart the Dutch East India Company, published by Charles River Editors, this book clearly mentions what was going on in mainland England and in Europe, and how they affected the company’s missions abroad.
(Kindle Location 35)
Thus it was in the euphoric shadow of the victory over the Spanish Armada that Queen Elizabeth I accepted a proposal from London merchants to send ships to the Indian Ocean, where Spain was not as dominant...
But Portugal under the Spanish “Habsburg” monarchy was, and both the Dutch and English had hard time to overcome the Portuguese dominance in the region until the mid-17th century with the downfall of Habsburg domination of Europe and the end of the Iberian Union.
(Kindle Location 52)
...Even though the Dutch East India Company was not officially incorporated until 1602 (two years after their English counterpart), the Dutch had been a formidable presence in the East Indies for many years, as had the Portuguese. During the 16th century, the Dutch struggled against the Portuguese, who had dominated the spice trade in the region and against whom the English would also struggle...
Truth is the Dutch Republic was "practically" independent from and now enemy of Spanish Empire fighting for its official independence from Habsburg-Spain, while the Kingdom of Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy. This tells how dominant first global maritime hegemon Spain actually was.
I don't understand why no history book counts Portuguese naval power as part of Spanish armada while the kingdom was completely annexed and controlled under Spanish rule. When Portugal proclaimed its independence in the mid-17th century, the Spanish court labeled the Portuguese “rebels and traitors.”
(Kindle Locations 213-222)
...When hostilities between the French and English began, India became another site of conflict. The combatants and their Indian (as in India, not Native American) allies met fairly early in the war that broke out in 1754. The Battle of Plassey occurred in 1757. Plassey was then the capital of Bengal, and it was headed by a still-independent Nawab who allied his territory with the French. Despite this battle being a huge victory for the British East India Company (whose forces fought in lieu of the actual British military), the 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the war gave most of the French territory captured in the East Indies back to the French. In India, they were allowed to keep some military presence. However, the French military threat was virtually eliminated by the end of the 18th century, and this event greatly weakened it, despite rearing its head again during the American Revolution (remember, the French entered the war on the side of America, against the British). So, while the Battle of Plassey did not have a great impact on the outcome of the Seven Years’ War itself, it was extremely consequential for the British East India Company; it was the first step toward solidifying their control over Bengal by weakening the French and defeating the Nawab at once.
The French actually controlled a large part of the Subcontinent until she lost it all to the British by the end of 18th century, and the Seven Years' War was only the early part of the Second Global War of Powershift and Hegemony, like the one named the Great War or the 1st World War during the 3rd Global War of Powershift and Hegemony.
With his interpretation of history quite balanced, the author untangles many truthful facts that we usually miss, like the real power gap between two militaries of Mughal Indian Empire and Great Britain up until the mid-18th century: The English (British since 1707) had to beg for mercy until then.
It is true that most of the European engagements with the local imperial forces in India and China ended up with European defeat until the late-18th century. No matter how much they tried they couldn’t match for the population and wealth of the empires in India and China until the Industrial Revolution turned the world upside down.
And there are still much more facts we can learn from this book:
(Kindle Location 231)
...And, as the Industrial Revolution in Britain dawned, British manufacturing came to depend more and more heavily on raw materials (such as cloth for the textile industry) produced in places like India.
(Kindle Location 231)
...At the same time, though, Parliament and Britain were growing more dependent on the company; fifteen percent of British imports were from India, and almost all Indian imports came into the country through the East India Company. In addition, Parliament actually borrowed money from the wealthy company in 1742...
(Kindle Locations 274-283)
While the death toll outweighs any financial loss, the company suffered so much that they neared bankruptcy and had to turn to the British government for help. In response, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773, which is notorious in American history as one of the events that led to the American Revolution. While this act is usually taught as a tax on tea in the colonies, that is not quite accurate. The act actually allowed the East India Company greater leverage in its trade dealings with the American colonies. It allowed the East India Company to avoid paying taxes on tea imports, which drove their prices down compared with that of all other tea; most of the tea consumed by American colonists was Dutch tea, imported illegally. Even though this actually made tea in the colonies cheaper, the colonists saw it as unfair to local tea dealers, and in a grander scope, they worried about this encroachment on their sovereignty: If the British Parliament could place this unfair exemption on East India Company tea purely for their financial benefit, then who knew what else they could enforce? The event led to the Boston Tea Party (remember, it was East India Company tea that was thrown into Boston Harbor), a major cause of the American Revolution. All of these events were truly global in scope...
Clearly it was the British Parliament, not the powerless King George III. We see what is wrong with our public history education in America, which portraits George III as a tyrant against the American freedom.
(Kindle Location 116)
...The growth of the English in India has certainly had an enormous impact on world history, but it is important to remember that it came at great human cost.
The author's voice and perspective are balanced enough, and that's not all.
(Kindle Location 180)
The British East India Company had survived its first century. It had also survived a very turbulent period in British history: the English Revolution/Civil War and reinstatement of the monarchy, as well as institutional changes to Parliament...
The best about this book is, unlike its counterpart the Dutch East India Company, published by Charles River Editors, this book clearly mentions what was going on in mainland England and in Europe, and how they affected the company’s missions abroad.
May 8, 2022
This is a concise afternoon's reading: some 35 pages that will give an insightful peek into the workings of Britain's 'Shadow State', namely the E.I.C.
At is height it could boast a private army of more than 250,000 men at arms: not bad for a 'trading company'. The lower ranks being found from Indian and other 'native peoples' and the officer ranks being 'almost all of English origin'. One of many issues that stoked the rebellion on 1857. Why would a trading company need to field such an army, the cost of which was no small sum?
Without doubt many pockets were filled to overflowing from this pillage of the land, including the English government's coffers. bailed out by the government on more than one occasion, control of the company was taken over by the government after the rebellion of 1857.
Slavery was part and parcel of E.I.C's. daily dealing from the early 17th Century up until 1833, when slavery within all of the British Empire was abolished.
Much can be said of the benefits brought to both Britain and India by the E.I.C. However, I am sure that others can speak just a long when detailing the damage done to both nation states and more importantly the ordinary people of that land.
December 27, 2020
This is my second Hourly History book, the first being their work on their Opium Wars. I finished The East India Company in one second and felt that it served its purpose to a tee. As this work is dealing with a corporation and not a country, the topic itself is much less complex, hence why I am not complaining about this book's brevity. It was very interesting watch the East India Company grow over the centuries, first as an ambitious, primitive joint stock company and at last a massive, lucrative mega-entity that Britain struggled to control. Continuing, it was very interesting to see how the East India Company and Britain played into the geopolitical scene. For example, I read about how the East India Company had fierce trading enemies in the form of Portugal and the Netherlands; furthermore, how the English and Dutch begrudgingly allied to successfully hinder Portugal's control in India. Also, seeing how the East India Company was affected by global events, such as the Sevens' Year War, the American Revolution (not global, but a major event), etc. However, I feel the most interesting thing in this brief work was the slight peek into the Indian cultures, religion, and politics. For example, sati was an Indian tradition of widows committing suicide to join their husbands after they died (which the British tried to abolish). Continuing, as the British East India Company grew in power and developed its own military, they started to recruit native Indian boys and turn them into soldiers; these men were called sepoys. I was also ignorant of the fact that India was not a cohesive nation but a series of warring kingdoms that further complicated the situation in India. Another really fascinating fact I learned was that the British East India Company's guns were greased with pork and beef fat, and the cartridges needed to be bit into in order to operate. The British did not know that this greasing completely violated the Hindu and Muslim faith (which was held by the sepoys), and this helped lead to the Sepoy Rebellion, which the author claims is one out of the two possible reasons for the dissolvement of the company (the other being a law passed by Parliament that effectively ended the company). Finally, I want to close by talking about the Great Bengal Famine and why it is incredibly interesting to me from a historical perspective. The Great Bengal Famine was an event where the British East India Company (who treated the Indians brutally) placed absurd taxes on the Indian farmers. These farmers could not afford to pay the taxes with the food they were subsisting on, so they had to switch to other cash crops, such as opium. This is where it gets really interesting for me, because this directly ties into the Chinese Opium Wars, which I had previously read about. Anyways, while the British were smuggling the opium into China, the Indian farmers received money for their cash crops. Great, right? They could pay their taxes, which would go into the government, and then that government would use the funds to support the people? Wrong. The money went into British hands a world away, who cared nothing for the Indian people. The Indian people couldn't buy food because they had so little money from the taxes and even if they had enough money to buy food, they could not have eaten cash crops like opium and cotton. Thus, millions of innocent Indians starved to death in the Great Bengal Famine, which ended up hurting the East India Company anyways because it no longer had a workforce.
Sorry I don't have a conclusion, but I just wanted to share some interesting quotes from the book that I noted:
"Lancaster also discovered that lemon juice could be used to treat scurvy during his first East India Company voyage on board his ship, the Red Dragon, though the practice of giving lemon juice to sailors would not be formally adopted for another 200 years" (Hourly History 5-6).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 6). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"Another violent encounter occurred in 1623, this time with the Dutch, with whom the English and the East India Company would have a complicated relationship in the East Indies. After making inroads in India and parts of Southeast Asia, the English looked to expand their dominion. During this pursuit on one of the Spice Islands, ten Englishmen were executed along with ten Japanese men and one Portuguese man in what would become known as the Amboina Massacre" (9).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 9). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"Additionally, British and East India Company representatives also enslaved native Indians. Even after Britain abolished slavery in all of its territories in 1833, an abusive system of contract labor and indentured servitude developed in India especially, which some historians have argued was akin to actual slavery in practice" (10).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 10). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"In 1695, as the East India Company neared its 100th birthday, Henry Every, a notorious British pirate who was nicknamed “The King of Pirates” in his lifetime, launched an attack on the Indian Mughal’s fleet. In it, Every joined forces with five other pirate captains and their crews in order to raid the Indian Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s fleet on its return from Mecca. This fleet was legendary at the time, certainly the richest in Asia and quite possibly the world, especially the ship Ganj-i-Sawai. It was also well protected and heavily gunned, so its capture by Every and his pirate compatriots was all the more stunning. A fierce fight ensued between the pirates and their victims when the two fleets met, and rumors of torture on the part of the pirates abounded in the aftermath" (14-15).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (pp. 14-15). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 14). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"While the rebellion itself only lasted about a year, it was extremely brutal, and spread throughout the entire subcontinent. Atrocities were committed on both sides: rape, torture, dismemberment, destruction of civilian lives and property, to name just a few of the offenses that abounded. These atrocities on the side of the rebels were widely reported in Britain, especially rape, and dissolved any sympathy that the British people might have felt toward the Indians and their plight. The papers largely ignored any atrocities committed by their own soldiers, so the British public did not advocate for any mercy toward the rebellion. In fact, Karl Marx himself spoke out against some of the propagandized reports and questioned their validity" (39-40).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (pp. 39-40). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
Sorry I don't have a conclusion, but I just wanted to share some interesting quotes from the book that I noted:
"Lancaster also discovered that lemon juice could be used to treat scurvy during his first East India Company voyage on board his ship, the Red Dragon, though the practice of giving lemon juice to sailors would not be formally adopted for another 200 years" (Hourly History 5-6).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 6). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"Another violent encounter occurred in 1623, this time with the Dutch, with whom the English and the East India Company would have a complicated relationship in the East Indies. After making inroads in India and parts of Southeast Asia, the English looked to expand their dominion. During this pursuit on one of the Spice Islands, ten Englishmen were executed along with ten Japanese men and one Portuguese man in what would become known as the Amboina Massacre" (9).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 9). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"Additionally, British and East India Company representatives also enslaved native Indians. Even after Britain abolished slavery in all of its territories in 1833, an abusive system of contract labor and indentured servitude developed in India especially, which some historians have argued was akin to actual slavery in practice" (10).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 10). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"In 1695, as the East India Company neared its 100th birthday, Henry Every, a notorious British pirate who was nicknamed “The King of Pirates” in his lifetime, launched an attack on the Indian Mughal’s fleet. In it, Every joined forces with five other pirate captains and their crews in order to raid the Indian Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s fleet on its return from Mecca. This fleet was legendary at the time, certainly the richest in Asia and quite possibly the world, especially the ship Ganj-i-Sawai. It was also well protected and heavily gunned, so its capture by Every and his pirate compatriots was all the more stunning. A fierce fight ensued between the pirates and their victims when the two fleets met, and rumors of torture on the part of the pirates abounded in the aftermath" (14-15).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (pp. 14-15). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (p. 14). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
"While the rebellion itself only lasted about a year, it was extremely brutal, and spread throughout the entire subcontinent. Atrocities were committed on both sides: rape, torture, dismemberment, destruction of civilian lives and property, to name just a few of the offenses that abounded. These atrocities on the side of the rebels were widely reported in Britain, especially rape, and dissolved any sympathy that the British people might have felt toward the Indians and their plight. The papers largely ignored any atrocities committed by their own soldiers, so the British public did not advocate for any mercy toward the rebellion. In fact, Karl Marx himself spoke out against some of the propagandized reports and questioned their validity" (39-40).
History, Hourly. The East India Company: A History From Beginning to End (The East India Companies Book 1) (pp. 39-40). Hourly History. Kindle Edition.
August 30, 2018
Really don't waste your time or money on this book. It is about 35 pages long, has no references or footnotes. It's just a long esssay and doesn't begin to cover this complex subject. I wish I had paid more attention to the publisher. I never would have bought it.
January 11, 2026
I picked this up because I wanted a fast way to learn about the East India Company and didn't have the time to commit to a 500-page academic tome. For what it is—a "one-hour history"—it does a decent job of hitting the major milestones. You get the basics on the spice trade, the formation of the private army, and the eventual transition to British Crown rule after the 1857 rebellion. However, because it’s so condensed, the writing can feel a bit dry and clinical, almost like reading a series of expanded Wikipedia entries. It’s great for getting a timeline in your head, but it lacks the narrative "soul" and the deep social context that makes this period of history truly fascinating. It’s an efficient read if you're in a hurry, but it’s a bit too surface-level to be truly memorable.
May 14, 2021
The East India Company didn't just come to India with the plans of trading. Who knew the fate of native Indians, when the Company established an indirect rule over them. There were just so many facts in this book that I didn't know. The history of the Company from 1595 to 1859 is written briefly and concisely, covering almost every major event. The only battle the author didn't write about was The Battle of Buxar, but that wasn't such a big conflict. It was fought between three Indian kings and the Company, with the Company taking the victory. The battles won by the British just showed their enormous army and rule over India and other countries.
February 28, 2021
Una historia sobre el auge y la caida de una compañia de comercio inglesa en el lejano oriente desde el siglo XVII al XIX que produjo cuantiosas riquezas a sus socios a costa de reprobables practicas de comercio, contando ademas con un poderoso ejercito propio.
Intervenida por el gobierno ingles, sento las bases para que este iniciara la colonización de la India. Merece una mencion especial su participación en la guerra del opio. Toda una historia traida en forma concisa en este interesante libro.
Intervenida por el gobierno ingles, sento las bases para que este iniciara la colonización de la India. Merece una mencion especial su participación en la guerra del opio. Toda una historia traida en forma concisa en este interesante libro.
January 7, 2022
The east India company
This book explains in brief the in roads british east india company made to the sub continent. It touches upon what and how it happened in India via treaties, wars, arrangements with indian rulers of the time. This book briefly touches upon the american revolution, conquest of Portuguese, dutch and french in India, the great bengal famine, fall of siraj ud aulah, opium wars with china, anglo marata, anglo mysore wars etc.
Its a painful read for an indian but enlightening at the same time.
This book explains in brief the in roads british east india company made to the sub continent. It touches upon what and how it happened in India via treaties, wars, arrangements with indian rulers of the time. This book briefly touches upon the american revolution, conquest of Portuguese, dutch and french in India, the great bengal famine, fall of siraj ud aulah, opium wars with china, anglo marata, anglo mysore wars etc.
Its a painful read for an indian but enlightening at the same time.
December 31, 2021
A brief, yet holistic, history of arguably the most impactful company every. The corporate governance and business perspective is something that is usually left unexplored in most literary pieces regarding East India Company and British Raj but the author does a great job of shedding light through these perspectives which help understand the full potential of modern firms and appreciate the fine relationships they have with political entities.
April 5, 2019
Brief (one hour) overview of 400 years of a corporate megalith. Enough to tease at how this company played critical roles in Europe's colonializing, the world's trade, India's modern history, and the US revolution. But mostly it was too short to get any real understanding. About like reading a wikipedia article.
November 1, 2019
Soft & superficial view
It has been explained as if it was done softly,but in fact it was quite brutal.
The atrocities of the east india company needed more attention.....
How did Britain get money and manpower to wage 2 world wars??
How did the industrial revolution start?
India was key to it....
India was a cash cow,where anybody could take anything from it.....
It has been explained as if it was done softly,but in fact it was quite brutal.
The atrocities of the east india company needed more attention.....
How did Britain get money and manpower to wage 2 world wars??
How did the industrial revolution start?
India was key to it....
India was a cash cow,where anybody could take anything from it.....
March 7, 2023
For quite a few reasons I loved it. I didn't know much about East India Company and this book helped me understand the timeline, their beginning, the rise and ultimately fall in less than 50 pages. This book is very brief and all the major events are defined in just one line.
This book is definitely not for those who are looking for in-depth explanation to anything regarding anything.
This book is definitely not for those who are looking for in-depth explanation to anything regarding anything.
October 27, 2017
The East India Company: A History From
Interesante libro que a pesar de su brevedad permite conocer cómo así se produjo la colonización de la India por los ingleses y el denigrante comercio del opio en China.
Interesante libro que a pesar de su brevedad permite conocer cómo así se produjo la colonización de la India por los ingleses y el denigrante comercio del opio en China.
June 16, 2021
Quick but interesting book
The book is well written and relatively error free. It does a good job explaining British involvement in the east and why unchecked a company can cause a country to become involved in a quagmire.
The book is well written and relatively error free. It does a good job explaining British involvement in the east and why unchecked a company can cause a country to become involved in a quagmire.
November 28, 2022
I was expecting more. I didn't look at the length of the book as I started reading it in ebook format. It was an easy read that presented the East India Company with very broad brush strokes. Now I will search for other books to deepen my knowledge of the East Indian Company.
November 10, 2024
Good overview into the East India Company
Nice introduction if you want to begin understanding the impact of the East India Company on the subcontinent and the formation of the ‘Raj’
Nice introduction if you want to begin understanding the impact of the East India Company on the subcontinent and the formation of the ‘Raj’
October 2, 2017
Thought it would be much longer. More of a short-essay but very informative and provides a good overview of the honour company's evolution.
November 8, 2017
Brief but adequate history of perhaps the most influential company in the world.
July 1, 2018
Average
Timeline of events during EIC is not clear and is arranged in haphazard manner. Book would have been great if explanation was better.
Timeline of events during EIC is not clear and is arranged in haphazard manner. Book would have been great if explanation was better.
January 9, 2019
Too factual and boring. Wikipedia is more interesting than this book.
July 9, 2019
Dry reading.
November 2, 2019
Short book but I found little different what I read in history textbook in India. India is still suffering the legacy of corruption left behind by East India company
March 30, 2020
Fantastic Book
Love the concept of this series and this was the first one I read. I am now about to start a new one.
Love the concept of this series and this was the first one I read. I am now about to start a new one.
April 5, 2020
Quick w/o much detail
This a very condensed history of the company. It could have contained more detail; however, for a brief overview it is quite helpful
This a very condensed history of the company. It could have contained more detail; however, for a brief overview it is quite helpful
April 7, 2020
A readable and informative introduction to the East India Company.
June 7, 2020
Very informative
I liked the book thoroughly. It captures the start to end of east india company and connects world incidents diring this period.
I liked the book thoroughly. It captures the start to end of east india company and connects world incidents diring this period.
July 6, 2020
Short but very descriptive.
A short read for every Indian conscious of Indian history. The chapters are following e another in a chronological way.
A short read for every Indian conscious of Indian history. The chapters are following e another in a chronological way.
July 26, 2020
A short history of the East India Company and England. Seems like the most powerful countries during these years have a lot to answer for in regards to how they treated people in other countries.
September 19, 2020
Yet another above average book in the series.
Concise. Crisp. Informative.
It did underplay the ruthlessness of the oppressors they were. They effectively squeezed the wealth out of India.
Concise. Crisp. Informative.
It did underplay the ruthlessness of the oppressors they were. They effectively squeezed the wealth out of India.
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