Once it became a colony of British colonists, India fell into the abyss of suffering. The corporate flags of British colonies range from 1707 to 180 1.
The biggest disaster brought to India by civilian rule is the destruction of traditional Indian handicrafts. /kloc-Before the middle of the 0/8th century, the handmade cotton textile industry was the most "comparative advantage" industry in India. However, before the industrial revolution at the end of 18 century, the Indian handicraft industry, which had been brilliant in the world for thousands of years, never recovered. British colonial rule dealt a heavy blow to India's handicraft industry, making millions of craftsmen lose their livelihood and a large number of people starved to death. The population of Dhaka decreased from10.5 million in the mid-8th century to 30,000-40,000 in10.84. "This kind of disaster is almost unique in business history. The weaver's bones bleached the plains of India. " An East India Governor once said this. British colonial rule also caused famine in India. In order to make money, the British East India Company imposed exorbitant taxes and levies, and soon after it ruled the eastern part of India, it nearly doubled the land tax, resulting in years of famine. 1770, the famine in Bangladesh alone starved to death1100,000 people, accounting for about one third of Bangladesh's population! "From 1769 to 1770, the British created a famine by hoarding all rice and refusing to sell it at appalling prices." Before the arrival of Western European colonists, India was one of the most prosperous regions in the world. After becoming a British colony, India became a "backward country" despised by westerners. From the 65438+60s, the East India Company began to decline. 18 13, the East India Company's trade monopoly on India was cancelled, and in the same year, the British government cancelled its trade monopoly on China. After the East India Company's trade privilege with China was cancelled, the British businessmen who came to Guangzhou for the 13th trade changed from the original unified organization of the East India Company to scattered merchants. The British government appointed officials to negotiate business matters with the China government, which turned the original negotiations between businessmen into intergovernmental negotiations, thus sowing the seeds of Sino-British conflict. After all kinds of powers were abolished, the East India Company went bankrupt. 1858, after the East India Company accumulated enough wealth for Britain in a lifetime, it was kicked off. The East India Company was officially cancelled by the British government, and the British government began to directly rule India until 1947.
Company collapse
The bankruptcy of the East India Company was not accidental for three reasons: 1. Corruption, bribery and smuggling by employees of the company have become a common practice, resulting in a sharp drop in the company's total income. 2. Because the company blackmailed the Indian people, the Indian people constantly revolted. And the company needs a lot of money to suppress the uprising. This forms a vicious circle, which keeps the company in crisis. 3. The East India Company is the representative of commercial monopoly capital. Industrial capital has developed rapidly in Britain, and commercial capital has gradually lost its former position. This is also the main reason for the company's bankruptcy. The management of India by the East India Company became the embryonic form of British civil service system. 18 13 after the monopoly position of the company was broken, the company gradually separated from the trading business. 1857 After the Indian national uprising, the company also handed over its management affairs to the British government, and India became a British crown colony. /kloc-In the 1960s, all the company's properties in India were delivered to the government. The company only helps the government to engage in the tea trade (especially with St. Helena). After the dividend redemption act of the East India Company came into effect, the company was dissolved on June 1 874+1October1. The Times commented: In human history, it has accomplished tasks that no company has undertaken, and may not undertake in the future. 1987, a coffee merchant established a limited company named "East India Company", and in 1990, he applied to use the arms of the former East India Company as his trademark. However, the Patent Office pointed out that "the company that uses this badge cannot call itself the' East India Company', but the company 1996 establishes its own website. The company still sells coffee in St. Helena under the name of "East India Company" and has published a book introducing the history of the East India Company. However, it should be noted that although the company claims to be established in 1600, it has nothing to do with the original company in law.
Historical imprint
1, expanding the territory of the British Empire. 2. Colonial plunder and commercial capital accumulation. 3. The strategic position refers to Afghanistan in the north, Southeast Asia in the south and China in the east. Become a strong strategic support point. 4. Deepening colonization, becoming the sales market of British industrial products, supporting the development of domestic capitalism, thus promoting the colonial wave. 5. Crowding out other colonial powers in Europe. 6. The rule of the East India Company accumulated experience for the direct rule and management of the imperial government in the future.
Evaluation of British East India Company
The East India Company is different from today's multinational companies. They all got the headquarters building of the East India Company in Britain from their own governments.
Colonial institutions with exclusive trade rights, the army (including the fleet), set up government agencies in the colonies, carried out cruel political rule and economic plunder on the colonies, and even sold slaves and drugs. They came into being and existed from the end of16th century to the first half of19th century, and played an important role in the primitive accumulation of capitalism in various countries. /kloc-at the end of 0/6/kloc-at the beginning of 0/7, Portugal, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and other countries established the East India Company in India, Indonesia, Malaya and other places in the Eastern Hemisphere. As for why they were all named "East India Company", this is related to Columbus mistaking America for India and spreading it everywhere. 1492, Columbus sailed to the West Indies in today's Central America, mistaking it for India and mistaking the indigenous people for Indians (today, the American indigenous people are also called Indians, which is the same word as the Indian in English). Later, people found out that they were wrong (Columbus himself refused to admit that he was wrong until his death), but they were still wrong. They called the real India (even some Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia) "East India" and the islands in the American Caribbean "West India", hence the names of these colonial companies. Why did Holland, Britain and France set up the East India Company in the Eastern Hemisphere? This is because in the17-18th century, these three countries were the main colonial countries in the world (and Spain, but it mainly expanded in the western hemisphere), and their competition in the eastern hemisphere was particularly fierce. Competing to establish the East India Company is an important manifestation and means of their competition. In the end, Britain won, and the British East India Company was also the most famous. With the development and gradual completion of the industrial revolution, free competition and free trade have become the strong demands of the emerging industrial bourgeoisie. This privileged company has not adapted to the requirements of the further development of capitalism. /kloc-was dissolved by governments in the middle of the 0/8th century.