The East India Company was the most powerful commercial enterprise in British history. Yet its speculative, highly risky origins are now all but forgotten. A revolution in commerce during the Tudor period led to a bold search for new forms of investment and above all for overseas enterprises - the most profitable of which would be the Company.
David Howarth investigates the birth of the East India Company and explores why, having survived its first decades, it would last for another two hundred. Through a host of stories and fascinating details, Howarth examines the Company's evolving way of doing business. While its efforts met with failure in Japan, they consolidated in India, thanks largely to Sir Thomas Roe. Howarth shows how Europe was central to the Company; as he offers the first ever comparison of the Company and its Dutch rival the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie.
The East India Company was the most powerful commercial enterprise in British history. Yet its speculative, highly risky origins are now all but forgotten. A revolution in commerce during the Tudor period led to a bold search for new forms of investment and above all for overseas enterprises - the most profitable of which would be the Company.
David Howarth investigates the birth of the East India Company and explores why, having survived its first decades, it would last for another two hundred. Through a host of stories and fascinating details, Howarth examines the Company's evolving way of doing business. While its efforts met with failure in Japan, they consolidated in India, thanks largely to Sir Thomas Roe. Howarth shows how Europe was central to the Company; as he offers the first ever comparison of the Company and its Dutch rival the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie.
David Howarth is emeritus professor at Edinburgh University. He is the author of Lord Arundel and His Circle, Images of Rule, and The Invention of Spain, and editor of Art and Patronage in the Caroline Courts.
“Howarth tells some hair-raising tales from the maiden voyage of
the Company ship Peppercorn. . . . Packed with tales, as well as
gruesome accounts of clashes between rival traders in the
east.”—Dan Jones, Times (UK)
“Adventurers is essential reading.”—Dan Jones, Times (UK)
“[Adventurers] details the early years of what would become the
world’s biggest corporation…By no means a defence of the empire,
this dizzying work makes its emergence all the more
remarkable.”—Daniel Brooks, Sunday Telegraph
“Howarth’s study [is] quite different from its rivals, and
overflowing with surprises.”—William Dalrymple, The Spectator
“This is a book [Howarth] has wanted to write for 50 years. . . .
The frequent exuberance of his prose echo[es] the voices of
larger-than-life venturers and seafarers who fill his pages.”—Alan
Mallinson, Country Life
“Adventurers is an important counterpoint to received knowledge of
Anglo-Indian history, and the foundations of what was perhaps the
world’s first and most controversial corporation.”—Lubaaba
Al-Azami, BBC History Magazine
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there might be a further
volume. . . . Perhaps Howarth, like those first Adventurers, will
have the right amount of intrepid bravery and insanity to attempt
it.”—Debbie Kilroy, Get History
“Howarth’s book is a joy of revelation, page by page… beautifully
written” —Robert Lyman, The Critic
“The history of the East India Company is so often read backwards.
This wonderfully well-written book restores its early development
to its true context—it is, like cold water in a desert, the picture
for which we’ve gasped.”—James Evans, author of Merchant
Adventurers
“Fascinating and authoritative. David Howarth weaves a rich and
rewarding tapestry of the uncertain, often chaotic development of
the company, moving with style from London to Southeast Asia, and
amassing a colourful cast list of princes, merchants and
politicians. Adventurers will become the standard book on the
subject, and deservedly so.”—Jerry Brotton, author of This Orient
Isle
“Howarth’s keen eye for intrigue weaves together a tale of
commercial competition and imperial ambition that carries us from
the Tudor court to the coasts of Japan. Adventurers is a
quick-paced romp through the chaotic early history of Britain’s
most infamous corporation.”—Edmond Smith, author of Merchants
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