HARVARD HISTORICAL STUDIES
Cover: A Business of State: Commerce, Politics, and the Birth of the East India Company, from Harvard University PressCover: A Business of State in HARDCOVER

Harvard Historical Studies 188

A Business of State

Commerce, Politics, and the Birth of the East India Company

  • Note on Spelling, Dates, and Sources
  • Introduction
  • I. Governing the Company
    • 1. The Patent and the Formation of the Company
    • 2. Constituting Authority: The Court of Committees and the Generality
    • 3. Wooing Adventurers: Membership and Useful Men
    • 4. Division within the Company: The Problem of Faction and Representation
    • 5. Merchants, Trading Companies, and Public Appeal
  • II. The Company and the State
    • 6. The Changing Patent: Negotiating Privileges between Company and Regime
    • 7. “What His Men Have Done Abroad”: Martial Engagements and the Company
    • 8. The Dutch East India Company and Amboyna: Crisis and Response in the Company
    • 9. Taking Stock and Looking Forward: The Difficulties of the Late 1620s
    • 10. Crown Manipulations of the East Indies Trade: Dismantling the Company in the 1630s
  • Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • Manuscript and Archival Sources
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index

Recent News

Black lives matter. Black voices matter. A statement from HUP »

From Our Blog

Jacket: A Brief History of Equality, by Thomas Piketty, from Harvard University Press

Five Reasons Why You Should Read Thomas Piketty’s A Brief History of Equality

In his surprising and powerful new work, A Brief History of Equality, Thomas Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality. We asked him about his impassioned new book: why he wrote it, how it’s optimistic, and what we need to do to continue making progress on creating an equitable world. …