Indian Merchants and English Private Interests: 1659–1760

Abstract

From the beginning of English commerce with Asia one of the most critical themes was the problem of private trade. The seventeenth century private trade was viewed by the Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies as unwarranted competition. Although the Company did attempt to reorganize its servants’ salaries during the Company’s reconstruction in 1657, the tensions between the private and corporate interests continued to develop during the seventeenth century. Private traders understated their activities in order to conceal them from the Company and Indian governments. The arrival of an interloping vessel, during the forty years that interloping created the most problems, forced the Company to make a number of adjustments in its dealings with Indian merchants. Some independent English traders invested in the Ostend and Swedish East India Companies in thel720’sandl730’s, but never really posed a threat to the official English trade in India.