Private Trade and Monopoly Structures: The East India Companies and the Commodity Trade to Europe in the Eighteenth Century

The collapse of the Mughal Empire in Rajasthan during the first half of the eighteenth century initiated important reconfigurations in its polity, society and economy. Emergence of regional political order and a new notion of commercialisation widened the sphere of engagements of merchants and traders. This article traces the structural changes that ensued, focusing specifically on (a) the emergence of the non-peasant sector in agriculture, (b) the rise of a cross-caste mercantile class and (c) change in commercial relationships under the new governance between the principalities, traders, artisans and the merchants. The research is based on insights from rich archival primary sources from the Rajasthan State Archives in Bikaner, focusing primarily on careful and extensive examination of the Bahis. With the objective of enriching the current understanding of how trade and commerce played a pivotal role in serving as engines of social change and economic growth, this study finds ample evidence of thriving trade, growing commercialisation and capitalist development, characterised by complex financial networks and an intricate system of credit in highly speculative commodity trade markets. Evident economic prosperity in most parts of Rajasthan helps add to the existing literature debunking the idea of eighteenth century being a ‘dark age’.

Download Full-text

“Legitimate commerce” in the Eighteenth Century: The Royal African Company of England Under the Duke of Chandos, 1720–1726

Enterprise & Society ◽

10.1093/es/kht038 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 544-578 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Matthew David Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

West Africa ◽

Lower Cost ◽

Slave Trade ◽

Mineral Resources ◽

Strategic Decision ◽

Commodity Trade ◽

Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽

British Trade ◽

Slave Traders

Following the loss in 1712 of its previous monopoly over British trade with West Africa, the Royal African Company found itself unable to compete with smaller, lower-cost British slave traders and nearly collapsed entirely. Salvation seemed to arrive in 1720 in the person of James Brydges, the Duke of Chandos, who led a massive re-capitalization of the company and made the strategic decision to move its focus to the commodity trade between Europe and Africa and on the search for new botanical and mineral resources in Africa itself. While Chandos directed the RAC’s employees in implementing this radical new scheme, he kept it secret from his fellow shareholders, leading them to believe that his plans were aimed at revitalizing the company’s mature but declining line of business in the transatlantic slave trade. The Duke’s strategy, however, proved overly ambitious and failed to reverse the company’s decline.

Download Full-text

Observations on the Value of Russia's Overseas Commerce with Great Britain during the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

Slavic Review ◽

10.2307/2497923 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 85-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Herbert H. Kaplan

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Great Britain ◽

Industrial Development ◽

Commodity Trade

In a previous publication I demonstrated the enormous value of Russia's overseas commodity exports to Great Britain's industrial development during the second half of the eighteenth century. Yet when value is determined only by sheer volume of commodities, the determination, even when supported by impressive shipping data, might not be as convincing as a determination of value based on other factors, for example, on money value.Scholars continue to argue over specific aspects of Anglo-Russian trade, over the accuracy of British commercial records, and over the degree of British involvement in Russian overseas commerce. This article addresses these issues and suggests that historians should not forget to look at the broad trends in the value of that trade when they debate specific aspects of the commercial relations between the two nations. Moreover, it seems to me that value comprehended in English pounds sterling or Russian rubles would further demonstrate the significance of Russia's overseas commodity trade to Great Britain, since such a demonstration would rest, as it were, on a surer foundation.

Download Full-text

"A World Embracing Sea:" The Oceans as Highway, 1604-1815

War and Trade in Eighteenth-Century Newfoundland ◽

10.5949/liverpool/9781927869024.003.0002 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 7-16

Author(s):

Olaf U. Janzen

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Maritime Trade ◽

Commodity Trade ◽

Environment Factors ◽

The Subject ◽

Atlantic Community ◽

The Military ◽

Fish Trade ◽

The Way

This chapter is a study of maritime trade during the ‘mercantilism’ period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It explores the way oceans functioned as highways for ships, people, and commodities, and briefly introduces the Newfoundland fish trade in the eighteenth century - the framework through which the rest of the journal approaches the subject of maritime trade. It offers an overview of the developments in commodity trade in the period, primarily in the Atlantic community; the environment factors such as wind or current patterns that plagued sailing vessels; the risks inherent to ocean voyages during the period; the way family and kinship influenced maritime commerce; the types of trade undertaken; the safeguarding of investments; and the increase in both the military and government presence in maritime trade affairs. It concludes that in order to fully understand the importance of oceanic highways the intricacies of the land-sea relationship must be considered in detail.

Download Full-text