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IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : India History From Mid 18th to Mid 19th Century - Mercantile Policies and Indian Trade

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History India From Mid 18th to Mid 19th Century

Mercantile Policies and Indian Trade

Structure

14.0 Objectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Structure of the East India Company
!4.! East lndia Company's Monspoly
14.4 Monopoly Versus Free Trade
14.5 Nature of the Company's Trade
14.6 Mercantile Business and Political Power
14.7 Rise of Industrial Capitalism and ;he C'ornpany'i; ?.lerc;inri!c I'cdicici
14.8 Let Us Sum Up
14.9 Key Words
14.10 Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises

14.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit you will study:

how the East India Companies were structured as Joint stock enterliliscs rri many investors,
how and why these merchant capitalist ventures known as East India Companies were given monopoly trade privileges by the governments of their respective countries,
how there was a struggle between monopoly trade of the English East lrlda Company and English Free Traders, leading to the withdrawal of monopoly privileges,
the nature of the trade of the English Companj and tht private radc of servants of the Company in India as a collect ve mopol
the reasons why merchant capitalist enterprises turncd roudld acqullitlon territories and political power, and
how the rise of industrial capitalism changed the nature of Indo-Rritisll economic relations, and consequent changes in the Company's mercan.rllc policies.

14.1 INTRODUCTION

You already know the circumstances in which the East lndia Companies came into
existence as a result of the long evolution of merchant capitalism in Eurcpe (Block
2). You also know the role played by European East India Companies, particularly
the English Company, in the political history of India in the last decades of the
18th and early 19th centuries (Block 3). This Unit introduces you to the structure
and nature of the East India Company's trade in lndia and the monopoly that it
enjoyed, the struggle between monopoly trade of the Company and English Free