EAST INDIA COMPANY AND ITS CONNECTION TO IMPERIALISM AND

COLONIALISM IN INDIA AND CHINA

Name

Couse

Date
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Introduction

The purpose of establishing East India Company was to exploit the natural resources that

were explicitly found in Southeastern Asia and India. This company served as a critical tool on

which British imperialism thrived. It was regulated by wealthy merchants and reputed for its

trades in tea, porcelain spices and opium – the Europeans traveled to India and China with the

objective of utilizing the exotic goods which were inexistent in other countries. As a result,

during the 16th and 17th centuries, European states such as Portugal, France, and England went

into a competition to take control of the southeastern coast of India – nevertheless, England

dominated the region compelling other competing states to pull out. Quite often, conflicts arose

between the Brits and various indigenous Indian groups, but increasingly, England came the

region’s pressures. In 1600, the East India Company was established by royal charter and other

wealthy aristocrats as a joint stock company to execute marketing activities with the Indian

subcontinent.

Subhead

From its origin as a small London business, the East India Company emerged in the early

1600 as a powerful enterprise and political organization initiated by the English businessmen. Its

infancy in India determined the course throughout the Gulf region and provided the Westerners a

gateway into the Asia’s modern landscape. Asjdkask suggests that from 1700 to 1900, the world

was progressing at an exponential rate, and various European countries treaded along

imperialism to secure more control over the world trade and expand their territories. Various

factors such as powerful European military and Indian migration force significantly contributed

to the development of European imperialism over Asia countries such as the Chinese and Indian

territories. ShIAJSI indicates that the Portuguese were the major competitors to the Brits who
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took control over the Indian west coast whereas the French dictated the southeast region market

share. During its infancy, the company adhered to the policy of peaceful trade and avoided

attempts of garnering territorial acquisitions, because it felt it was likely to be malicious to the

European motives in India.

Nonetheless, the East Indian Company started to develop a completely commercial enterprise.

The company was initiated as a monopolistic trading agency, but progressively it became

engaged in politics and served as an agent of British imperialism in India; furthermore, its

activities in China acted as a catalyst for the advancement of European influence. The company

was established to engage in the East Indian spice trade – an enterprise which was a monopoly of

Spain and Portugal until the decline of the Spanish Armada by Britain. The company’s existence

was faced severe revolution from the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies as well as the Portuguese. In

the early 1620s, the company started to employ forced labor and ferrying enslaved people to its

facilities in China and India. The company enjoyed a monopoly in the region and as result, it

became very powerful and wielded significant political impact. Despite the company being

technically autonomous from the Crown, it was established as the universal agent for English

Imperialism across the country. Furthermore, it created its private military which enhanced its

charge over vast swatches of the subcontinent

Throughout, the power of imperialism and benefits of entrepreneurship were woven

together (kaslc;/) During this period, various western and eastern interactions started to flourish,

asjdskal defines this era as the imperialism age as the western force took charge over Asia –

specifically in India and China. Historians aver that the in the 18th century, the British infiltrated

into the Indian market with the aid of the East Indian Company as a tool of seeking an extensive

financial mercantile benefits. The economic evolution established by the Industrial revolution
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allowed the European capitalists to achieve significant profits that could be realized by overseas

trade.By then, the Mughal Empire of India was the dominant power and was obliged by the

Europeans to elucidate their objective for trading when they first arrived. The British

entrepreneurs channeled their objectives on trading spices, silk and other goods.

With the decline of Mughal Empire with and the concurrent growth of regional territories

the British and East India Company took advantage of the political instability and established

military supremacy over their marketing competitors and local leaders. In 1757, the seizure od

the Bengal province marked the dawn of imperialism. As a consequence, the British and the East

India Company obtained a significant political mileage, established a bureaucratic framework,

and enacted a series of legal policies – their primary objective to officially and legally control

taxation, new policies and other measures of mitigating corruption (jakcall).

The East India Company’s royal policy gave it the muscle to wage a war and used the

military to protect its territories and wade off the rival traders. Nonetheless, in 1957,the company

seized control over the Mughal Empire and Robert Clive, who was leading the company’s 3000

person-army was installed as the governor of Bengal and embarked on collecting taxes and

customs which were used to trade Indian goods and export to European markets such as in

Britain. Consequently, the company established a concrete victory and expelled the Dutch as

well as the French out of the Indian subcontinent. In the following years, the company annexed

other areas of the country and bribed the rulers of their target regions.

The Britain’s ability to take direct charge over taxation of the local Indians implied a shift

of leadership responsibilities. Initially, the relationship between the British and the Indians was

balanced off with no sense of superiority or inferiority. Nonetheless, with the holistic transition

to the enterprises’ new obligations as the ruler, the British notion towards the Indians
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degenerated. Qwjkd suggests that the European businessmen used to seek permission before

accessing the Indian market; however, because they required more goods, trading and political

power to acquire more political mileage, they used the military to realize their objectives.

Financial constraints and widespread awareness of the company’s abuse of power forced Britain

to sought for direct charge over the company. After a long battle with the natives, the British

regime ceased the company rule in India.

Various factors fuelled the decline of the company. For instance, it gained charge over

Bengal on the Indian subcontinent and since the company was serving as an agent to the British

imperialism, its shareholders had an upper-hand in influencing the British policies. Additionally,

after the mid -18th C, the cotton trade started to decline gradually, on the other hand tea

established itself as a crucial export commodity for China. In the early 19th century, East India

Company began to finance the trade of tea with illegal opium exports to China. However, the

Chinese government was against to this trade a vice that elicited the first Opium war which

lasted for three years from 1839. The results of this war was the seizure of Chinese rulers and the

expansion of the British marketing advantage; a second conflict which was defined as the Arrow

War enhanced the Britain’s trading privileges

China

The primary objective of European imperialism in China was to take advantage of its

economic potential. During this era, the demand for Chinese tea and silk in the British market

was high. Regretfully, Britain did not seise adequate silver to trade with the Qing Empire. This

elicited the system of barter trade based on Indian Opium to mitigate this payment constraint.
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According to jADKH, a country’s respect and reputation are established on its military strength

and technological progression. People emanating from less privileged or under-developed

countries are obliged to take heed of the advice from the powerful countries because the

powerful countries possess the mandate to overturn the; policies, treaties or even in the case of

East Indian Company. The British continued to advance its imperialistic achievements to other

parts of Asia. A practical example of how the British infiltrated and took charge over trade in

China is the Opium War. This war was perceived as a wound to China – the dawn of a western

conspiracy to extinguish China with drugs and gunboats (jacklasl). The initial Opium war

signified the start of unjust treaties for China and further overthrew the Qing era. The major

objective of the British imperialism and colonialism in China was to take control of the

economic state of the country because China was enjoying the world’s largest economic

proposition.

During the 18th century, the Brits were in dire need for tea, hence the demand for Chinese

tea rose exponentially. To mitigate trade imbalances and realize more profits across the external

markets, Britain started selling more products such as opium to China. Actively trading China’s

wealthier coastal areas which were located far from the mainland, the British government

corrupted the Chinese officials and even administered free samples of the drug to the public.

Even though the Chinese government was against the idea, heightened supply of opium to the

east costal region had naturally incurred a tremendous rise in demand for opium – the Qing

dynasty was nervous about the constant foreign trade and wanted to halt its progression.

The Chinese Prospective

Eventually, violent clashes arose between the Britain’s military forces and the Qing era.

Nonetheless, the Britain’s military weapons alongside powerful artillery and gunboats were
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superior compared to those of the Chinese (jkaskd). As a result, it proved hard for the declining

Qing Dynasty to stop the invasive progress of the British imperialism and colonialism, and the

consequence was a disaster for the Chinese. In the mid of 1842, China was obliged to take heed

of the British demands by signing the Nanking Treaty, commonly defined as the unequal treaty

(kasklc). This consensus marked the commencement for the British to officially exploit China’s

resources. More ports were involuntarily availed to foreigners and were allowed to freely execute

business activities anywhere within the country.

For the Brits, the desire to acquire an extensive market share and seek out foreign

economic opportunities was often employed as an excuse to infiltrate o=into foreign lands.

Jhaskdail notes that as the British entered into the foreign land, they kept a low trading profile;

however, as soon as differences arose and compromised their trading benefits, they assumed

severe aggressive measures. Similar to India’s context, the Brits fuelled the decline of the Qing

dynasty with the aid of their military muscle. The desire for continued trading outcomes

intermingled with the imperialistic mindset to expand their territories provided the bedrock for

endless episodes of western imperialism and colonization. During the Britain’s imperialism in

China, multiple groups constituting the Chinese were engaged and played a critical role in

determining the course of the social context. In the mid 1830 to the early 1920’s, there was a

wave of global labor migration which played a critical role in the colonial and imperial word.

Working as forced laborers under illegitimate contracts, the Chinese and the Indians labored in

the sugar plantations of the Brits.

The contribution of the migrated laborers was significant in expanding trade objectives

across Asia under imperialism. Regretfully, indentured migrants were not accorded respectful

recognition, but were rather subjected to abuse and exploitation. Moreover, the colonial policies
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were primarily established to exploit their labor with low wages and confine their movements.

This global labor migration and indentured workforce system was ideally a new form of slavery

(jsDK.). Established under the era of imperialism and colonization, the indentured system was; in

essence, a new method of slavery because of the unequal treatment which the laborers received.

Unlike the British entrepreneurs, the Indian authorities or the Qing Dynasty empire who decided

and acted, those immigrant laborers were ordinary and innocent Asian citizens who were

impacted by and lived under the imperialism transition regime.

Haskdxkas suggests that the respect which the Brits used to hold the Chinese turned into

chaos and arbitrary. The standing positions between China as well as India against the

Westerners was altered, and the British authorities controlled the Asian territories and the

involved trade therein. The indentured Chinese laborers constituted part of the group which was

subjected to cultural racism which shaped colonial perspectives and policies regarding labor

relations. The labor migration and indentured experience reflects on the significant plantation of

team, rise in entrepreneurial achievements and above all, showcases the changes in racial

perspectives of Britain under the imperial transition. The 1839 Opium war marked the first large

scale military clash between the Qing Empire and European powers. After the sale of opium was

officially prohibited in China, the Qing rulers launched an initiative to confiscate all the imported

opium. In retaliatation, the British empire sent the military to protect its product against

confiscatation a move that only precipitated the opium war.

Even through the Brits had prospered in advancing the opium trade, the East India Company

feared that the current situation will not sustain them for long. As a result in established plans to

plant its own tea crop within the British territories in India; in addition, the British feared for

their commodities if China opted to produce its own opium. These factors compelled the
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European entrepreneurs to employ the military as a tool of expanding its territories in order to

dictate the market share.

Askdas defines imperialism as the process in which one country extends its political and

socio-economic control to foreign territories. During 1700 to 1900, the British imperialism had

turned out to be complex and multifaceted because the process had significant impacts on

various aspects in both India and China. Indeed, the arrival of British entrepreneurs bridged the

trade connection between Europe and Asia which benefited the economies of both regions.

Nevertheless, as trade conflicts arose between Britain and India or with the Qing Dynasty, the

British relied on excessive use of the military to pressurize the eastern political regimes. As a

result, trading policies were revised to provide a breakthrough for the foreigners into the land and

enhanced them to benefit through foreign trade.

Differences between Britain and Mughal Empire precipitated in 1986 after the former and fired

Hugli besides declaring a war against the emperor –however the British had misjudged the

situation and underestimated the military muscle of the Mughal Empire. As a consequence of

the war, the British were driven out of their factories and forced to seek refuge in regions such as

Ganga. After the Britain realized that will take them an extra mile to overpower the Mughal

Empire they submitted a bill which suggested that they should be pardoned for their ill crimes.

They manifested their willingness to trade under the regulations of the Indian authorities.

Conclusion

Most importantly, the Europeans shifted their perspectives towards the Chinese as well as

the Indians because they were aware that it was through imperialism and colonization that they

had the power to control the respective countries. The example of racism directed to migrated
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laborer’s experience pinpoints a critical socio-cultural issue that was prevalent during the British

imperialism process. During the colonial era of 1700 to 1900, British imperialism infiltrated the

Indian and Chinese markets with their military supremacy being used as the bedrock to exploit

the local residents. As a result; the whole turbulence, significantly affected the socio economic

and political aspects of the said states.

Bibliography