Part Two: Understanding Colonialism
- September 2020
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October 2020
- Oct 2, 2020 #9 Understanding Colonialism: The New Globalisation: The Age of Monopoly Global Companies
- Oct 9, 2020 #10 Understanding Colonialism: The Early Monopoly Companies and Colonisation
- Oct 16, 2020 #11 Understanding Colonialism: Competitive Colonialism & Defending Colonies
- Oct 23, 2020 #12 Understanding Colonialism: Invasion, Settlement, Slaves and Colonisation
- Oct 30, 2020 #13 Understanding Colonialism: Slaves and Settler Societies
- November 2020
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December 2020
- Dec 4, 2020 #18 Understanding Colonialism: Death and Impoverishment Part III
- Dec 11, 2020 #19 Understanding Colonialism: Indian Colonialism: A Special Case from 1600 to 1914
- Dec 18, 2020 #20 Understanding Colonialism: Russian Colonisation: Another Special Case
- Dec 23, 2020 #21 Understanding Colonialism: The Invasion of China
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January 2021
- Jan 1, 2021 #22 Understanding Colonialism: Africa (Part I)
- Jan 8, 2021 #22 Understanding Colonialism: Africa (Part II)
- Jan 15, 2021 #23 Understanding Colonialism: Settler and non-Settler Colonies
#10 Understanding Colonialism: The Early Monopoly Companies and Colonisation
After having outlined in the previous blog the origins of the early monopoly companies, it is now worth pausing to understand how these monopoly companies operated. Divest yourself of any conception you might possess of a trading company today. From their origins, these companies operated like ships of war. They were designed to combat all aggression from any direction: aggression from the people they might meet on landing, from other ships that might wish to steal their cargoes, and from other European monopoly companies that wished to steal their trade.
#9 Understanding Colonialism: The New Globalisation: The Age of Monopoly Global Companies
The so-called National Charter companies were innovative at the time. They were financed from private sources, allowed to arm themselves for protection, and they set out to control the trade they could muster. The East India companies avoided the Ottomans, sailed around the Cape to India, and began to set up local agreements and build forts. Each of the new European companies rapidly discovered that the Indian and Chinese governments did not want to obtain what Europe had to offer, rather they felt themselves to be self-sufficient.