Bengal

The English East India Company was the most unique organization in British colonial history. On 16 October 1599, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a charter to the EIC, awarding it a monopoly of the trade with the East. The EIC arose from a grouping of London merchants, ordinary city tradesmen and aldermen who were prepared to take a gamble in buying a few ships and filling them with cargo to sell in the East. At the end of the voyage, after the return cargo was sold, the profits would be shared amongst the share holders. This system was known as "joint-stock".

Initially, the British were not particularly intent on Bengal, regarding it as one of several ports they might survey while pursuing their interests farther East. The British ran into trouble with Dutch traders and were forced to retreat to set up trading posts in India.

Jamestown

In June of 1606, King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs who formed the Virginia Company to establish a satellite English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. The British hoped to find shorter trade routes to the Far East. The main reason, however, for going on this expedition was money. The vast resources of this new land were well known in Europe, and businessmen were anxious to get their share. It was believed that the land where the Jamestown expedition landed was rich with gold. Many of the men who made the journey were "gentlemen" (businessmen). They were chosen because they knew something about money and would be eager to make more, and they could also afford to pay the fare that was charged for the voyage. The Virginia Company recruited people by promising that gold could be found by anyone who made the trip.

Comparison

Interaction with Indigenous Peoples

Jamestown

• attempts at trade or making Native Americans into slaves failed
• frequent violence between Native Americans and British
• European diseases spread rapidly among natives, killing 90% of the population
• British had little interest in converting natives to Christianity-Virginia Company venture was commericially-oriented
• British pushed remaining Indians out as need for land and resources increased

Bengal

• Powerful Mughal Empire already ruled territory-British and Indians were trading partners
• British could not establish a real "colony" in Bengal until 1690-had to battle Muslims to establish settlement
• British still looked down on Indians as "savages"

Economic Factors

Jamestown

• search for gold and minerals failed miserably
• trade nonexistent after relations with Indians deteriorated
• reliance on agriculture-tobacco farming became profitable, but colony was not a money-making venture for the Virginia Company due to disease and other problems

Bengal

• British East India Company traded silver bullion, other metals, tapestries, ivory, and mechanical devices for silks and saltpetre from Bengal, as well as sugar, indigo, and spices from other trading posts
• Company was on the brink of financial disaster because it exported too much silver-(according to mercantilist economic theory of the day, a country's wealth depended on the amount of precious metals it accumulated)
• eventually became more successful

Political Factors

Jamestown

• British created and ruled own colony upon settlement-no structured government already in place

Bengal

• British could not establish separate colony for nearly a whole century-Mughal Empire ruled India

Return to Lesson on the British in Bengal and Jamestown