History Forum / General / General Topics / April 2004

I have been thinking of other companies which might have held such powers
(even tried the robber barons in the America of the end of the 19th
century), but frankly no. I could not think of an organization with the
word company (in its commercial, not military, sense) which held as much
power as the English East India Company. I am told that a token company by
that name still exists in the UK.

It had other competitors, the Portuguese East India Company (which collapsed
after the Spanish conquest of Portugal, survived in Goa until 1961 before
Portugal was evicted by modern India), the Dutch East India Company (which
was forced out of India and became fairly powerful around the Straits of
Molucca), the French East India Company (which was a relative latecomer to
India and the only one to pose a serious military challenge to its English
counterpart, and survived in a few enclaves in India).

Though it must be said that the only reason the English East India Company
became so strong was the disunity of 17th and 18th century India. You may
want to read about the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Accession.

Great question.  I suppose that other supermultinationals would have to be
identified.  The Hudson's Bay Company was big but probably not in the same
league.  I doubt if fair comparisons can be made with today's companies
since the East India Company had quite a lot of independent political power.
As such one could argue that it was more than a simple business enterprise
and therefore can't be compared with any other organization.

What about Dutch companies in the East Indies?

Ken

Arguably. You mean the Dutch East India, or the British? The
very nature of mercantilism makes the various colonial
governors extremely powerful people, but a ship full of pirates
could bring 'em to their knees.

I don't know how you'd compare it. Corporations now are very
"thin" on any given transation - they add a bit of value,
mark it up and pass it on. They do not generally receive royal,
divine-right-king charters and have the authority of
absolute power.

But the Dutch East India company could not even compete
for five minutes with FedEx.

I'd a said JP Morgan was pretty powerful - he more than once
personally kept Wall Street afloat, and had immense personal
power - like being able to lock other powerful people in a room
until some disputes were resolved.

It's like "who's a better soldier, a Roman or a modern
fire team member"? It's not really answereable except as
long winded compare and contrast.