The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations — Fexingo History

When the East India Company transformed from a trading corporation into a territorial power, it needed a seat befitting its new status. This episode explores the construction of Government House in Calcutta — not just a building, but a deliberate statement of imperial authority. We trace its origins from the modest Fort William to Richard Wellesley's grand vision after the Battle of Plassey. The h...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's first permanent settlement in India: the Surat factory, established in 1612. They delve into the diplomatic negotiations with Mughal Emperor Jahangir, the role of Sir Thomas Roe as ambassador, and the delicate balance of trade in textiles, indigo, and saltpeter. The conversation covers the factory's layout, its multicultural workforc...

In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna explore the Company's surprising role in currency. After the Diwani of 1757, the EIC took over the Surat Mint and began minting its own rupees. But the Company's coins didn't just bear the Mughal emperor's name—they subtly signaled a shift in power. Lucas explains how the Company's silver rupees, stam...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the intersection of art and empire through the life of Tilly Kettle, the first British portraitist to work in India. Kettle arrived in Madras in 1769, at a time when the East India Company was consolidating power after the Battle of Plassey. He painted Mughal nobles, Company officials, and nawabs, creating a visual record of a shifting world. The episode del...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the life and legacy of Stringer Lawrence, the often-overlooked father of the Madras Army. Lawrence's military reforms and leadership during the Carnatic Wars laid the groundwork for the East India Company's territorial expansion in India. From the siege of Trichinopoly to the battle of Golden Rock, Lawrence's tactics and mentorship of Robert Clive shaped...

In this episode, Lucas walks Luna through the career of Major General Stringer Lawrence, the often-overlooked father of the Madras Army. Lawrence arrived in India in 1748 as a seasoned mercenary and took command of the Company's ragtag forces at Fort St. David. Through the Siege of Trichinopoly and the Battle of Golden Rock in 1753, he turned local sepoys into a disciplined fighting force using Eu...

In 1788, the most powerful man in British India, Warren Hastings, former Governor-General of the East India Company, stood trial before the House of Lords on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors. The impeachment, led by Edmund Burke, lasted seven years and became a landmark in the history of imperial accountability. This episode explores the charges against Hastings: his dealings with the Nawab...

Long before Singapore, the East India Company pinned its hopes on a swampy settlement on Sumatra's west coast: Bencoolen (now Bengkulu). For over 150 years, this backwater outpost was the Company's only direct source of pepper, a spice that drove European expansion long before tea or opium. Lucas and Luna explore how the British ended up there in 1685, the brutal climate that killed half of every...

In the 1770s, the British East India Company faced a fiscal crisis after the famine of 1770 devastated Bengal. To shore up revenue, Warren Hastings introduced the khas tariq, a direct assessment of land revenue that bypassed traditional zamindars. This episode explores the khas tariq system: how it worked, why it failed, and its role in shaping the Permanent Settlement of 1793. We follow the story...

In 1695, the English pirate Henry Avery captured the Mughal treasure ship Ganj-i-Sawai, setting off an international crisis that nearly destroyed the East India Company. Emperor Aurangzeb shut down English trade in Surat and demanded justice. The Company's response was a show trial in Bombay — but the wrong men were hanged. This episode traces the robbery, the diplomatic fallout, and the cynical l...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the Siege of Arcot in 1751, a turning point in the Carnatic Wars where a young Robert Clive led a tiny garrison against a massive Franco-Indian army. They explore the political chaos of the Carnatic region, the rivalry between the Nawab of Arcot and Chanda Sahib, and how Clive's audacious defense at the crumbling fort of Arcot reshaped British power in Ind...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the founding of Fort William in Calcutta, the Black Hole incident of 1756, and how this controversial event shaped British policy in India. They discuss the construction of the original fort by Job Charnock, the siege by Siraj-ud-Daulah, the disputed number of victims in the Black Hole, and how Robert Clive used the incident to justify the Battle of Plassey....

This episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations explores a vital but overlooked pillar of Company power — the minting of silver rupees. Lucas and Luna trace the story of the Surat Mint, one of the Mughal Empire's most important treasuries, and how the East India Company gradually took control of coinage in western India. They discuss the role of the rupee as a stable...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the early history of Bombay — the swampy, seven-island archipelago that the East India Company acquired as a dowry in 1661. They trace the construction of Bombay Castle, the company's first fortified settlement on the west coast, and the audacious governorship of Gerald Aungier in the 1670s. Aungier transformed a malarial backwater into a thriving port by in...

In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the most quietly explosive abuses of Company power: the dastak. This seemingly innocuous permit—a tax exemption pass for private trade—became the backbone of a vast smuggling network that drained Bengal's treasury and enriched Company servants like Robert Clive. Lucas explains how the...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the little-known story of the Bombay Marine, the East India Company's own navy. From its origins as a motley fleet of grabs and gallivats to its decisive role in the Battle of Swally and its long war against the Maratha pirate Kanhoji Angria, the Bombay Marine was a unique force — part private navy, part pirate hunter, part colonial enforcer. Lucas explain...

In 1782, the British East India Company ship Grosvenor wrecked off the coast of South Africa, stranding over a hundred passengers and crew. The survivors faced starvation, wild animals, and hostile locals, yet the tragedy also exposed the company's brutal indifference to its own people. This episode dives into the Grosvenor disaster, the piracy of Henry Avery, and the fragile ties of empire across...

In 1782, the East India Company's ship Grosvenor wrecked off the coast of South Africa, stranding over 100 survivors in one of the most harrowing castaway stories of the 18th century. But the real scandal wasn't the wreck itself—it was what followed. Lucas and Luna explore how the disaster exposed the brutal realities of Company-era maritime travel, the politics of salvage, and the forgotten role...

Before the British Raj, the East India Company maintained its own navy — the Bombay Marine. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the origins of this corporate fleet, from its first major victory at the Battle of Swally in 1612 against the Portuguese to its role in protecting trade routes and suppressing piracy. They discuss the ship types like the galbat and grabs, the rivalry with the Portugue...

Long before the Battle of Plassey, the East India Company was fighting a secret war of intelligence. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the shadowy world of Company espionage in Mughal India — from the barid, the Mughal intelligence bureau, to the British spy William Paxton, who infiltrated the court of Siraj-ud-Daulah and helped Robert Clive topple a nawab. They uncover how the Company used...

This episode of Fexingo History dives into the neglected origins of one of the EIC's most crucial settlements: Madras. We explore how a tiny fishing village called Madraspatnam became the site of Fort St. George, the first permanent English settlement in India. Lucas and Luna uncover the story of Francis Day, Andrew Cogan, and the deal with the Nayak of Vandavasi that gave the Company a sliver of...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten naval power of the Maratha Empire under the Angria dynasty, particularly Kanhoji Angria and his son Tulaji Angria. From the 1690s to the 1750s, the Angrias built a formidable fleet that raided European trading ships along India's western coast, defying the British, Portuguese, and Dutch. Lucas explains how Kanhoji's knowledge of local waters an...

In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna explore the founding of Madras—the first major British settlement in India. They trace the story of Fort St. George, built in 1644 on a strip of beach granted by the Nayak of Vandavasi. Lucas explains how the settlement grew from a humble trading post into a thriving city, attracting Armenian and Jewi...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the little-known story of how the Dutch Governor of Negapatam, Jan van der Heiden, helped the English East India Company survive a desperate siege in 1746. When the French under La Bourdonnais captured Madras, the English fled to Fort St. David, but the French navy blockaded the coast. Van der Heiden, defying orders from the Dutch East India Company (VOC), s...

In 1858, the British Raj established a penal colony in the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. Initially meant to reform 'criminal tribes' and rebellious sepoys from the Great Rebellion of 1857, the settlement at Port Blair quickly became a symbol of imperial brutality. This episode explores the early years of the Andaman penal colony, focusing on the first decades before t...