India Company Research Articles

The First Work on Oliver Cromwell in Georgia

In 2022, the publishing house “Logos” published the book “Oliver Cromwell. Puri-tan, Captain, Statesmen” (441 pages) by Ivane Menteshashvili, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Fellow International Napoleonic Society. Ivane Manteshashvili is a Georgian historian, senior scientist at the Georgian National Museum, asso-ciate professor at the University of Georgia, and simultaneous interpreter and poetry translator in Georgian historiography, Iv. Menteshashvili is well-known through his research and works on the history of England and France, mainly: “History of En-gland, “Love and Power. Elizabeth I Tudor”, “Napoleon,” Cardinal Richelieu”- in Georgian, “The Falkland Islands. History of the Conflict,” “Power and Hero. Na-poleon Bonapart,” “Transcaucasia in British Russian Competition in 1880-1914,” “The Contiguity of Civilization of the Western and the Eastern Civilizations During the Activity of the British East India Company in India” -in Russian, etc. By the way, Professor Ivane Menteshashvili partly dealt with Oliver Cromwell in his book “Power and the Heroes Born of Revolution” (in Russian), where he gives portraits of three historical persons: Cromwell, Napoleon, and Stalin.

Missionary linguistics in the East Indies in the seventeenth century

Abstract In recent years, there has been increased academic interest in missionary linguistics. However, whereas much has been written on Spanish missionary linguistics, above all in the Americas, relatively little has been published on Dutch missionary linguistics. This article aims to address this situation by analyzing the texts written in Malay by Dutch missionary linguists in the seventeenth century in the East Indies, now Indonesia. It begins by providing an account of the history of the Malay language, focusing above all on the influence of other languages including Sanskrit, Arabic, and Portuguese on the Malay lexicon. It then describes the activities of the Dutch East India Company in the Indonesian archipelago. After providing a comprehensive account of the texts that the Dutch missionary linguists wrote in Malay, the article analyzes the linguistic strategies that they employed as they attempted to overcome the gap between their language and culture and the Malay language and the culture in which it was embedded. It does so using a fourfold typology: loanwords, loan translations or calques; periphrasis and conceptual transfer. The picture that emerges is that authors made extensive use of all four strategies to communicate the Christian Gospel in Malay. One interesting result is that Dutch missionary linguistics used very few Dutch loanwords in their Malay texts. The article analyzes possible reasons for this.

Голландская экспансия в Малайе и формирование институтов публичной власти

The Dutch expansion in Malaya was associated with the Dutch East India Company, also known as the Dutch VOC. It influenced the development of public authority institutions in Malaya and the Indonesian islands. The VOC had a trade monopoly in the East Indies and adopted state governmental methods and functions in the region. The Charter of 1602 gave the Company rights to maintain a military garrison, build forts, appoint judges, and conclude treaties outside Europe. In the first half of the XVII century, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in their colonial rivalry for the Indonesian islands and Malaya. As the VOC expanded its boundaries, it used the structure of public authority to manage the colonies. The author analyzed the structure of the VOC public administration, its bodies, and public institutions in Malacca and other colonial cities. The Dutch colonial court system in Malaya and the Indonesian islands included European and traditional courts. However, Batavia had a local authority known as the College van Schepenen while the island of Java had Adat and Islamic courts.

A Benign Empire?

This article analyses how nineteenth-century Dutch colonial officials in the Moluccas repeatedly instrumentalised abolitionist rhetoric to increase the legitimacy of the colonial State. It first demonstrates how these officials used the ban on the slave trade in 1814 to present themselves as adhering to an enlightened colonial philosophy. This allowed them to distance the newly established colonial State from the legacies of the Dutch East India Company, which had violently ruled over the Moluccas from the middle of the seventeenth century up to the end of the eighteenth century. The second part of this article shows how Dutch officials used the abolition of slavery in the Dutch East Indies in 1860 to both paint themselves in a favourable light and to increase their territorial claims in Papua, a region that had been subject to the authority of the Sultan of Tidore for centuries.

Ghost Gardens: The Intersection Between Electronic Archives and Artistic Research

Drawing on the works of Jaques Derrida (1930–2004) – principally Archive Fever (1995) and Cinders (1987) – and Mark Fisher’s (1968–2017) Ghosts of My Life (2014) as interlocutors, I engage with concepts surrounding the electronic archive in artistic creation and research. I discuss my recent composition Ghost Gardens, a sixty-minute digital soundscape derived from the histories of Lascar sailors employed by the British East India Company during the 19th century, and current issues pertaining to climate change, habitat and species loss. I reflect upon the nature of the archive in a period of rapid environmental change, vanishing acoustic terrain and its preservation, through the lens of Ghost Gardens as a creative project which explores the intersection between sound, film, ecology and deconstruction in the digital domain. The creation of the soundscape has both utilised and generated digital film, audio and photographic archives, while the research process involved archival research pertaining to the East India Company. The sonic seascape forms part of a multi-layered, technologically enabled, interdisciplinary body of work; an ocean of sound that probes questions pertaining to the nature of recording and inscription of electronic documentation and retrieval.

A brief study on economic impact of British rule in India during the colonial period

After the battle of Plessey and Boxer, the British East-India company started to establish their control over Bengal and gradually the company introduced the sway almost all over India. Consequently, they started to introduce various reforms in favor of their administration. Keeping in mind in this regard they initiated a series of reforms for the people of India as they wished from their ends. The British brought about social, political, and agrarian reforms to improve the condition of the people of India. The Britain tried their best to improve the economic condition of the people of India as well as their colonial interest. Hence through this topic it has been tried how British governments make huge changes in the field of economy during their tenure. Economists, scholars, and lawmakers are still arguing about what part and how big British empire policy played in India's relative drop in world GDP from 1858 to 1947. Some people who didn't like British rule said that it had bad effects and that Britain made India less industrialized to help British exports, which made Indians poorer than they were before British rule.

Country Traders, the East India Company, and the Rise of Singapore: ‘On Further Interference with the East-India Company’s Privileges of Exclusive Trade’

Country Traders, the East India Company, and the Rise of Singapore: ‘On Further Interference with the East-India Company’s Privileges of Exclusive Trade’

From Hai Yao, Yang Yao to Xi Yao: Sinification of Material Medical from the West

In ancient China, Daoist philosophers developed the concepts of qi (energy), Wu Xing (five elements), and yin (feminine, dark, negative) and yang (masculine, bright, positive) opposite forces between 200 and 600 BCE. Based on these philosophies, Zhen Jiu (acupuncture), Ben Cao (materia medica), and the practice of Qi Gong (energy optimization movements) evolved as the three interrelated therapeutic regimens of Chinese medicine (Note 1). Since the time of Zhang Qian, who discovered China’s western regions in the 1st century BCE, Hai Yao (the exotic elements of materia medica from the maritime Silk Road countries), had been transmitted from the ancient land and maritime routes of the Silk Road to China in the past two millennia (Note 2). Since the late 17th century, the English East India Company, later called the British East India Company, introduced Yang Yao (opium) to the Manchu Qing Empire to balance a growing trade deficit for tea export from China to the British Empire. After the First Opium War ended in 1842, enterprising expatriate chemists and druggists in the treaty ports imported Xi Yao (modern medicines from the Western world) for sale to the merchant navy and the local market. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, both Hai Yao and Xi Yao have become a fully integrated part of modern China’s armamentarium for the Chinese medicine and Western hospitals and retail pharmacy sectors. This paper articulates the journey of adoption of exotic elements of materia medica from the ancient land and sea routes of the Silk Road, including the western regions and the rest of the world in the past two millennia. Opium traders, ship surgeons, medical and pharmaceutical missionaries, enterprising traders, and policymakers together transformed Ben Cao into Xi Yao during the late Manchu Qing dynasty and the early Nationalist Era.

Mercantile Life in Early 19th Century Southeast Asia: The Ross Brothers

Abstract: British traders operating in the East in the early nineteenth century faced warfare, piracy, and shipwreck, along with the competing interests of local rulers and East India Company (EIC) officials. This article looks at episodes in the maritime careers of three brothers to show how the commercial environment affected trade. The brothers were born in Jamaica, illegitimate sons of a Scottish trader who served as a government official and his freed slave. One son became a ship’s captain in the Bombay Marine, the private navy of the EIC and an important surveyor of Eastern seas. Another son also joined the Bombay Marine but left under unknown circumstances and transferred to the private ‘country trade’ after adopting a new name. The third son became a ship’s captain in the country trade and died after an attack by local pirates in Bangka. The family circumstances that led to the brothers’ careers and lives of their children are summarized to illustrate the social mobility of descendants of West Indian slaves in the early nineteenth century.

Beyond the Colonial Lens: An Investigation into the Chequered History of Assam Tea

This article presents a fresh perspective on tea cultivation in Assam, negating the widely held belief that the British Empire’s introduction to Assam tea symbolised societal advancement and economic growth. This article argues that the primary intention of the British was pure economic that catapulted the destruction of the thick forested areas, marginalised the native population and abolished their kingdoms. Despite this, colonial Assamese elites and mainstream industrialists have glorified the British tea venture. In this attempt of reviewing the history of Assam tea from an alternative point of view, efforts have also been made to analyse how the East India Company’s desire to maintain its monopoly in the Chinese tea trade, the Calcutta Botanical Garden’s desire to uphold the supremacy of the Chinese tea plant, and the military personnel’s quest for new sources of tea played their roles in it.

VILLAGE POLICE SYSTEM: ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY POLICING IN MIZORAM

Indian policing had been revolved around rural policing. In ancient India, each village had its own headman who protected the village with the help of village watchmen or patel. These watchmen were the real executive police of the villages. During medieval period, the Mughal dynasty also adopted this indigenous village police system. The significance of village police system was also recognized by the British rulers. The Court of Directors of the East India Company and The Police Act, 1861 wanted retention of village police system. After independence, Government of India made attempts to revive rural policing system. The Model Police Act was passed in 2006 which directed the states and Union Territories to make new police laws incorporating, among other things, improved village policing system. The present paper was an attempt to study how the village police system had been revived in India by passing the Model Police Act, 2006 with special emphasis on its implementation in Mizoram. Mizoram, a small state in North East India, adopted the Mizoram Police Act, 2011 under which Village Defense Parties were established to provide better policing services to village residents. This Act revived the principles of village policing concept which had been lying dormant. It also provided for formal institutional mechanism of community policing in the state.

Tools of imperialism or sources of international law? Treaties and diplomatic relations in early modern and colonial Southeast Asia

AbstractThe history of treaty‐making, diplomacy, and international law has traditionally been written from Eurocentric perspectives, but since the middle of the 20th century, Southeast Asia has attracted relatively much attention because of the region's importance for the 17th‐century Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. More recently, however, the interest in Southeast Asia's role in the history of international law and diplomacy in the early modern period has become more oriented toward understanding the dynamics of international relations and cross‐cultural diplomacy in Southeast Asia itself, rather than focusing on the region's role in European legal and intellectual history. The prolific treaty‐making and other diplomatic activities of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) during the 17th and 18th centuries have been the object of several studies, highlighting how the company adopted Asian practices of statecraft and at times functioned as a traditional ruler, tributary or stranger‐king, rather than as an omnipotent colonial power. Moreover, several recent studies have expanded the study of diplomacy and treaty‐making in Southeast Asia to imperial powers other than the VOC and into the 19th century. With regard to the practice of treaty‐making during the colonial era, three main themes in the current state‐of‐the‐art are identified: 1) Southeast Asian and inter‐cultural perspectives on treaties and treaty‐making; 2) the question of mutual consent or coercion and violence in treaty‐making; and 3) discrepancies between Asian and European treaty texts and biases in printed and digitised compilations of treaties.

From Great Britain to the Spanish Philippines via British India… and back

Abstract This research uncovers lexical contact between English and other languages in texts about the part of the Spanish Philippines under the control of the British East India Company from September 1762 to April 1764. Better known as the Manilha Consultations, the texts in English sent to, and received from, British India are scrutinised in search of the British East India Company’s vocabulary. That vocabulary partly consists of lexemes found in the English/British East India Company’s consultations worldwide but unrecorded in monolingual dictionaries and glossaries of major and/or minor varieties of English. The Manilha Consultations contain lexemes unrecorded in the Oxford English Dictionary, the Hobson-Jobson Glossary, and/or the Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. The 38 lexemes here considered instances of the British East India Company’s vocabulary might be included in those, and/or other, dictionaries and glossaries of British English, Indian English, and/or Philippine English if expansive criteria for lexeme inclusion were applied.

Uninhabited Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Penang, Singapore and Botany Bay: What Did Terra Nullius Mean in British Colonial Thinking?

Enlightenment colonial actors never used the term ‘terra nullius’, they used the phrase ‘uninhabited land or island’. In the 1780s, uninhabited did not mean nobody lived there, but rather signified a land without a sovereign. This article contrasts British East India Company deliberations on the habitation of islands in the Eastern Indian Ocean, with the discussions on habitation in Botany Bay prior to 1788. Between 1778 and 1786, there were proposals for British settlements in the Nicobar Islands, Andaman Islands, Junk Ceylon and Penang. The people who lived on these islands were not considered the inhabitants. Instead, the British looked at the relationship between people on the islands and mainland Asian sovereigns to determine who inhabited these islands. A retrospective discourse developed that Penang and Singapore were uninhabited prior to the British arrival. This discourse was part of plans to end legal pluralism in the settlements and assert colonial sovereignty.

What is a Developed Country, A Status India is Aiming to Achieve by 2047?

“Developed country” is a term used to describe a nation that has achieved a high level of economic development, technological advancement, and social well-being. The classification of countries as "developing" or "developed" is a complex topic that involves various economic, social, and political factors. Historically, the classification was often based on the economic indicators, but over time, the understanding of development has evolved to include a broader range of factors. During British colonial rule, India's wealth was indeed drained to Britain through various mechanisms. The British East India Company's exploitation of India's resources and industries during colonial rule left a lasting impact on the country's economic landscape. Post-independence, India faced multifaceted developmental challenges. Economically, the trajectory involved early mixed results, followed by the transformative liberalization, privatization, and globalization reforms in the 1990s. India experienced high growth, but recent years have seen challenges, including a growth slowdown and pandemic disruptions. Non-economic factors like the Human Development Index (HDI) shed light on disparities in life expectancy, education, and income. India, despite progress, remains a developing country due to factors like brain drain, population growth, income inequality, infrastructure challenges, corruption, and environmental issues. The Modi government's policies aim to make India a developed nation by 2047. Initiatives like Make in India, GST, Digital India, Skill India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, PMJDY, and PMAY address economic and social dimensions. Strategies include infrastructure development, skill enhancement, financial inclusion, and sustainable practices. Regular policy reviews and adaptability are crucial for these measures to contribute effectively to India's transformative development.

Michael Laver, The Dutch East India Company in Early Modern Japan: Gift Giving and Diplomacy

Michael Laver, The Dutch East India Company in Early Modern Japan: Gift Giving and Diplomacy

Analysis of Different Phenomena in Financial Cycles

This paper investigates the phenomenon of financial cycles, charting their history from the early modern period to the present. Financial cycles are repeating patterns of credit and investment expansion and recession. It has also had a huge impact on the economic histories of numerous countries. This essay begins by defining financial cycles and offering an outline of some of the important cycles that have happened throughout history, such as the subprime mortgage crisis and the East India Company. The essay then delves into the relationship between credit and financial cycles, suggesting that credit booms can fuel economic expansion and asset bubbles while simultaneously causing social instability and catastrophes. The paper also explores the influence of financial cycles on different countries, concentrating on the experiences of 18th-century Europe, as well as the United States and China in recent years. The article illustrates via these case studies that financial cycles may have deep and long-lasting consequences on economies and that understanding their dynamics is critical for policymakers and investors alike.

Networks of Power in the Nineteenth Century: The Sampradaya, Princely States and Company Rule

Abstract This article reconsiders a religious institution in India during the early colonial era as a manifestation of regional influence, or a non-statist public force. Founded by Sahajanand Swami, the Hindu devotional (bhakti) community known as the Swaminarayan Sampradaya expanded in the area that is today Gujarat in western India. The community arose as a source of popular influence in a region that lacked a dominant state at this time. Its creation was forged in relation to local struggles for power and resources, involving princely states, Maratha and East India Company powers, Kathi chieftains, and broader social and cultural changes in the nineteenth century. Historically examining the process of community expansion in the region through aspects like patronage and cultural production, I argue that the sampradaya’s articulation of devotion internalized political acumen to navigate material realities successfully. Effectively, the modern articulation enabled adherents to broker power from diverse networks and strengthen the community’s complex, multifaceted authority in Gujarat.

(Re)visiting and (Re)valuing the Vanishing Water Heritage in VOC Asia: Dutch Malacca and Ceylon

Dutch engineers are well-known for their skillful water management, best exemplified in the meticulously designed canals, irrigation and drainage systems, reservoirs, wells and moats that characterize both the Netherlands and places abroad where they have been active. Many of these structures that exist outside the Netherlands and were created by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, between 1602-1795) in Asia remain understudied. This article identifies and revisits these forgotten and often vanishing water structures through both archival and field research in Dutch Malacca and Ceylon. It explores the ways in which water management interventions during the VOC period recognized and made use of built-upon local wisdom, systematically adapting environmental knowledge into Dutch technology and governance to improve living in the tropics for both the Dutch and the local hybrid communities. Dutch water structures from the VOC period in Malacca in contemporary Malaysia and present-day Sri Lanka are examples of VOC approaches to tackling challenges in tropical environments. These historic sites – including heritage sites, some of which are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage properties – can be informative about how to adapt to current climate situations, both in terms of spatial structures and in terms of intangible practices, including cultural wisdom derived from strategies developed by the Dutch and from interactions between Dutch and local hybrid communities.

Fluctuating Currents: Balancing urban growth and restoring native riverine synergies in Mumbai — the case of Dahisar River

In 1690 CE, a transformation was initiated by the British East India Company on the seven islands along India's western coast. These islands, once primarily Portuguese territories featuring indigenous communities deeply intertwined with rich ecological and cultural histories spanning millennia, underwent a gradual metamorphosis into the major metropolis known as 'Bombay,' a trajectory that persists today in its rebranded identity as 'Mumbai.' This article delves into how the commonly accepted imaginations of urban utopia progressively turned away from the perceived stagnant waters of rivers and estuaries that, in reality, served as vital coastal ecological buffers. The expansion of Mumbai city propelled its citizens, particularly marginalised low-income groups and traditional settlement inhabitants, towards the outskirts where vestiges of natural ecosystems endure. This shift granted them rudimentary necessities such as water and outdoor spaces, including prospects for agriculture. The convergence of socially vulnerable communities with ecologically delicate zones frequently led to heightened intricacies and debilitation, placing immense stress on both the city's ecological and social resources. This article centres on the examination of urban rivers, using the Dahisar River, a representative seasonal watercourse in Mumbai, as a focal point. Through this exploration, it seeks to scrutinise the multifaceted networks intertwined with Mumbai's river systems, emphasising the urgency of recalibrating perceptions of rivers in Indian urban landscapes. The study also reflects upon the tumultuous socio-political dynamics of the city, involving governing bodies, indigenous stewards, urban residents, and industries. Amid the array of potential solutions, technical and ecological facets often take a backseat to the socio-political determination required to adopt a more ecologically conscious stance. Nonetheless, optimism persists, as climate change mitigation and urban well-being emerge as entrepreneurial prospects for the nation's economic hub. The national leadership aims to position itself as a catalyst for change, aligning with global ecological narratives on the political stage.