The Swedish East India trade and international markets: Re-exports of teas, 1731–1813

Abstract

The Swedish East India Company (SEIC) has been traditionally seen as nothing but a peculiar and exotic adventure in Sweden's eighteenth-century history. Hence, only limited attention has been paid to the SEIC's international role, its relationship with other chartered companies, and to the development of international markets for colonial goods. The paper focuses on this unexplored chapter in the company's history. More specifically, it looks into the SEIC's re-exports of Chinese commodities to Western European markets. Although the Swedish operation was limited compared to that of the other East India companies, the SEIC was an important tea trader on the world markets. The major part of the tea imports was re-exported through merchant networks to other European countries, especially to the Austrian Netherlands and Holland. Through illicit trade, part of the SEIC's tea went to Great Britain. The paper shows in detail how the transactions between Gothenburg, Ostend, Gent and Antwerp were organized. The examples are mainly drawn from the business correspondence of the Flemish merchants.