|
Showing 1 - 9 of
9 matches in All Departments
The first multi-disciplinary history of the English East India
Company, one of the most powerful commercial companies ever to have
existed. Throws light on significant aspects of the Company's
history. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY The English East
India Company was one of the most powerful commercial companies
ever to have existed. It laid thefoundations of the British Empire
in South Asia and thus lies at the very heart of the interlinked
histories of Britain and Asia. This first multi-disciplinary
history of the Company to be published commemorates the
four-hundredth anniversary of the founding of this unique and
extraordinary institution. Historians of art, culture, cartography,
empire, politics, the sea, and trade, explore the origins,
operation, and influence of the Company as an organisation that
remained firmly engaged in maritime commercial activity in many
different spheres, even as it acted as a powerful agent of
territorial expansion on the Indian subcontinent. H.V. BOWEN is
senior lecturer ineconomic and social history at the University of
Leicester; NIGEL RIGBY and MARGARETTE LINCOLN work in the research
department of the National Maritime Museum, London.
This pioneering comparative study of British imperialism in the
Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds draws on the perspectives of
British newcomers overseas and their native hosts, metropolitan
officials and corporate enterprises, migrants and settlers. Leading
scholars examine the divergences and commonalities in the legal and
economic regimes that allowed Britain to project imperium across
the globe. They explore the nature of sovereignty and law,
governance and regulation, diplomacy, military relations and
commerce, shedding new light on the processes of expansion that
influenced the making of empire. While acknowledging the
distinctions and divergences in imperial endeavours in Asia and the
Americas - not least in terms of the size of indigenous
populations, technical and cultural differences, and approaches to
indigenous polities - this book argues that these differences must
be seen in the context of what Britons overseas shared, including
constitutional principles, claims of sovereignty, disciplinary
regimes and military attitudes.
The Business of Empire assesses the domestic impact of British
imperial expansion by analysing what happened in Britain following
the East India Company's acquisition of a vast territorial empire
in South Asia. Drawing on a mass of hitherto unused material
contained in the company's administrative and financial records,
the book offers a reconstruction of the inner workings of the
company as it made the remarkable transition from business to
empire during the late-eighteenth century. H. V. Bowen profiles the
company's stockholders and directors and examines how those in
London adapted their methods, working practices, and policies to
changing circumstances in India. He also explores the company's
multifarious interactions with the domestic economy and society,
and sheds important new light on its substantial contributions to
the development of Britain's imperial state, public finances,
military strength, trade and industry. This book will appeal to all
those interested in imperial, economic and business history.
The Business of Empire assesses the domestic impact of British
imperial expansion by analysing what happened in Britain following
the East India Company's acquisition of a vast territorial empire
in South Asia. Drawing on a mass of hitherto unused material
contained in the company's administrative and financial records,
the book offers a reconstruction of the inner workings of the
company as it made the remarkable transition from business to
empire during the late-eighteenth century. H. V. Bowen profiles the
company's stockholders and directors and examines how those in
London adapted their methods, working practices, and policies to
changing circumstances in India. He also explores the company's
multifarious interactions with the domestic economy and society,
and sheds important new light on its substantial contributions to
the development of Britain's imperial state, public finances,
military strength, trade and industry. This book will appeal to all
those interested in imperial, economic and business history.
Revenue and Reform offers a reappraisal of British imperial politics in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. It is traditional to regard the 1760s as a time when British politicians were preoccupied with the crises that eventually led to the outbreak of the American War of Independence. In this book, however, it is the Indian problem that is examined. Politicians struggled to come to terms with the East India Company's unexpected acquisition of territory and great wealth in Bengal, and they endeavored to formulate policy related to many new and unfamiliar issues. New light is shed on debate about revenue collection, territorial rights, diplomacy, justice, and administrative reform in order to illustrate the central theme of the book: the gradual and reluctant assumption of responsibility by ministers for the Indian empire.
Drawing on a large volume of research, this 1998 book considers
sustained warfare as a powerful agent of change which transformed a
wide range of institutions, structures, and processes in Britain
between 1688 and 1815, a period when Britain was at war for much of
the time. Stressing the positive as well as the negative, and the
long term as well as the short term, the effects of war are brought
to bear upon questions of central importance in the study of
eighteenth-century British history. How effectively did the
emerging state cope with the financial and logistical demands of
war? How severe were the economic and social strains imposed upon
the population at large, and how did they respond to the call to
arms? What effect did war have upon the industrialising economy? A
balanced overview is presented of Britain as a nation at war during
an important phase of her development as an imperial, industrial
and military power.
Drawing on a large volume of research, this 1998 book considers
sustained warfare as a powerful agent of change which transformed a
wide range of institutions, structures, and processes in Britain
between 1688 and 1815, a period when Britain was at war for much of
the time. Stressing the positive as well as the negative, and the
long term as well as the short term, the effects of war are brought
to bear upon questions of central importance in the study of
eighteenth-century British history. How effectively did the
emerging state cope with the financial and logistical demands of
war? How severe were the economic and social strains imposed upon
the population at large, and how did they respond to the call to
arms? What effect did war have upon the industrialising economy? A
balanced overview is presented of Britain as a nation at war during
an important phase of her development as an imperial, industrial
and military power.
This pioneering comparative study of British imperialism in the
Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds draws on the perspectives of
British newcomers overseas and their native hosts, metropolitan
officials and corporate enterprises, migrants and settlers. Leading
scholars examine the divergences and commonalities in the legal and
economic regimes that allowed Britain to project imperium across
the globe. They explore the nature of sovereignty and law,
governance and regulation, diplomacy, military relations and
commerce, shedding new light on the processes of expansion that
influenced the making of empire. While acknowledging the
distinctions and divergences in imperial endeavours in Asia and the
Americas - not least in terms of the size of indigenous
populations, technical and cultural differences, and approaches to
indigenous polities - this book argues that these differences must
be seen in the context of what Britons overseas shared, including
constitutional principles, claims of sovereignty, disciplinary
regimes and military attitudes.
Revenue and Reform offers a reappraisal of British imperial
politics in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. It is
traditional to regard the 1760s as a time when British politicians
were preoccupied with the crises which eventually led to the
outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775. Here, for the
first time, a different imperial problem - the Indian problem - is
examined in detail. Politicians struggled to come to terms with the
East India Company's unexpected acquisition of territory and great
wealth in Bengal, and they endeavoured to formulate policy related
to many new and unfamiliar issues. New light is shed on debate
about revenue collection, territorial rights, diplomacy, justice
and administrative reform in order to illustrate the central theme
of the book: the gradual and reluctant assumption of responsibility
by ministers for the Indian empire. Firm guidelines for the
development of the Anglo-Indian imperial connection were eventually
laid down by Lord North's Regulating Act of 1773, and the
background to, and principles underpinning, this important
legislative landmark are fully explored in the concluding chapters.
|
|