The British East India Company, with a focus on Raffles
Jun 13, 2019 14:50:25 GMT
Mountbatten, Nobunaga Oda, and 1 more like this
Post by Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr on Jun 13, 2019 14:50:25 GMT
The British East India Company
Since its founding on 31 December 1600, it has grown in the many centuries to become a key tool in which the British Empire rose to power and glory. It has seen the rise and fall of other empires, the colonization of countless countries, the monopolization of several crucial trade routes, and stood the test of Time and History, only to be defunct in 1874.
As an introduction, the EIC was formed to allow the British Empire to gain access into the valuable Indian trade, and later on the lucrative South East Asian and Chinese trades. With places like Bengal, Hong Kong, Bencoolen, Malaya, Burma and Singapore, the EIC was a formidable threat to the other colonial powers like the Portuguese, who were slowly starting to lose their grip on the world, and the Dutch VOC, their own East India Company. The spice trade with goods like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, the India-China trade with opium, silk, tea, porcelain, ceramics, and the raw materials like tin and rubber were firmly in British hands with the EIC's strategic acquisition of ports and territories, which were beneficial to fund the British Empire's other conquests.
Beyond all the drama, the accounts of violence, slave trade, wars, naval conflicts, there stands a pretty significant figure. Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles. The Lieutenant-Governor of Java, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, the Founder of Singapore (and as many would title the Founder of Modern Singapore), the avid botanist, the caring family man, the ruthless plagiarist, the hypocritical samaritan, the power-hungry, scheming and calculative statesman. Raffles had a cult of personality, and certainly is an apt figure to discuss and unpack when mentioning the EIC, South East Asia and without a doubt, Singapore. But, who is this man? What did he do? Why does he deserve such criticism? What happened to the man?
More importantly, Why Raffles?
Stay tuned for the next post
xD thanks Mountbatten, Last Viceroy of India
Since its founding on 31 December 1600, it has grown in the many centuries to become a key tool in which the British Empire rose to power and glory. It has seen the rise and fall of other empires, the colonization of countless countries, the monopolization of several crucial trade routes, and stood the test of Time and History, only to be defunct in 1874.
As an introduction, the EIC was formed to allow the British Empire to gain access into the valuable Indian trade, and later on the lucrative South East Asian and Chinese trades. With places like Bengal, Hong Kong, Bencoolen, Malaya, Burma and Singapore, the EIC was a formidable threat to the other colonial powers like the Portuguese, who were slowly starting to lose their grip on the world, and the Dutch VOC, their own East India Company. The spice trade with goods like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, the India-China trade with opium, silk, tea, porcelain, ceramics, and the raw materials like tin and rubber were firmly in British hands with the EIC's strategic acquisition of ports and territories, which were beneficial to fund the British Empire's other conquests.
Beyond all the drama, the accounts of violence, slave trade, wars, naval conflicts, there stands a pretty significant figure. Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles. The Lieutenant-Governor of Java, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, the Founder of Singapore (and as many would title the Founder of Modern Singapore), the avid botanist, the caring family man, the ruthless plagiarist, the hypocritical samaritan, the power-hungry, scheming and calculative statesman. Raffles had a cult of personality, and certainly is an apt figure to discuss and unpack when mentioning the EIC, South East Asia and without a doubt, Singapore. But, who is this man? What did he do? Why does he deserve such criticism? What happened to the man?
More importantly, Why Raffles?
Stay tuned for the next post
xD thanks Mountbatten, Last Viceroy of India
