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

Long before tea and opium, the East India Company's first taste of real profit came from a tiny, fragrant nut: nutmeg. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the brutal 1621 Amboyna Massacre, where English merchants were tortured and executed by Dutch rivals on the Banda Islands. They trace the Company's desperate early search for spices, the high-stakes diplomacy of Sir Thomas Roe at the Mughal...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's transformation from a tea trader into the world's largest drug trafficker. They trace the origins of the opium trade in Bengal, the role of Gopaljee & Co. as native intermediaries, and the Canton system's corruption by British smuggling. They discuss the social impact on China — the millions of addicts, the banning of opium by the Yo...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the controversial tenure of Lord Dalhousie, the East India Company's most aggressive Governor-General. From 1848 to 1856, Dalhousie pursued a relentless policy of annexation under the Doctrine of Lapse, gobbling up princely states like Satara, Jhansi, and Nagpur. But his most fateful move was the annexation of Awadh in 1856, a wealthy kingdom that had bee...

Before the East India Company could conquer Bengal, it needed a banker. This episode follows the rise and fall of the Jagat Seth family, the 'bankers of the Mughal Empire,' who controlled the flow of silver from Surat to Murshidabad. We explore how the Seths financed armies, minted currency, and backed the Nawabs of Bengal — until a fateful meeting in 1757 changed everything. Learn about the hundi...

We often think of the East India Company as a trading body that somehow ended up ruling India. But how did a company of merchants actually conquer a subcontinent? In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Company's transformation into a military powerhouse — from the early factories defended by a handful of guards to the vast armies of sepoys and European officers that redrew the map of India. T...

Before the East India Company became a colonial power, it depended on Indian financiers. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the role of the great banking house of Jagat Seth in Bengal, and the story of Khwaja Wazid, the Company's broker at Murshidabad. We trace how these moneylenders backed the British at the Battle of Plassey, the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta, and the rise of the Company...

Most people remember the East India Company's wars against Tipu Sultan or the Mughals, but its most formidable opponent may have been Mahadji Shinde, the Maratha commander who nearly drove the British out of India. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Shinde's unlikely rise from a minor noble to the de facto ruler of North India, his alliance with the French, and his crushing defeat of the Brit...

We explore the First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782), a conflict that nearly destroyed the East India Company. Lucas and Luna dive into the Treaty of Surat, the Battle of Wadgaon, and the unlikely hero—Mahadji Shinde—who turned the Maratha Confederacy into a formidable power. We talk about the Company's overreach, the role of the Bombay government, and the Treaty of Salbai that reset relations. Alon...

Long before the company fought the Marathas or the Sikhs, it faced a fierce adversary in the Himalayas: the Gurkha kingdom of Nepal. This episode unpacks the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–16, a brutal campaign fought in mountain passes and dense jungles that reshaped Britain's northern frontier. We explore the Gurkha's ferocious combat tactics—using their signature curved kukri knives—and how the Bri...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's intricate trade network in Canton (Guangzhou), focusing on the Chinese hong merchants who acted as intermediaries between the Company and the Imperial government. They discuss the Cohong system established in 1760, the rise of powerful merchants like Howqua (Wu Bingjian), and the delicate balance of mutual dependence and suspicion th...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the transformative governor-generalship of Richard Colley Wellesley, Lord Mornington, who expanded the East India Company's power in India through the subsidiary alliance system. They discuss Wellesley's ambitious policies, the destruction of Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam, the defeat of the Marathas at Assaye, and the establishment of the College of Fort Willi...

In July 1806, Indian sepoys in the garrison town of Vellore rose up against their East India Company officers, killing over a hundred British soldiers and seizing the fort. The uprising, sparked by new dress regulations that banned religious markings and mandated a turban resembling European headgear, shocked the Company and exposed the deep cultural fault lines in its army. This episode unpacks t...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the shadowy world of espionage within the East India Company. How did a trading corporation gather intelligence across the Mughal Empire and rival Indian states? They dive into the role of the Company's 'intelligencer' network, including figures like William Paxton and the mysterious 'Moor's emissary,' the use of coded letters and invisible ink, and the cruc...

Before he became Marquess Wellesley and defeated Napoleon's armies in Spain, Richard Colley Wellesley — Lord Mornington — served as Governor-General of Bengal from 1798 to 1805. This episode explores how a young Irish aristocrat transformed the East India Company from a cautious trading corporation into a conquering imperial power. We trace Wellesley's upbringing at Dublin Castle, his tense relati...

In 1813, the East India Company faced its greatest existential threat — not from Indian rulers or foreign rivals, but from Parliament in London. As the Company's trade monopoly came up for renewal, a coalition of Christian missionaries, Manchester manufacturers, and free-trade ideologues demanded its abolition. This episode explores the Charter Act of 1813, the fierce debates in the House of Commo...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Lord William Bentinck's tenure as Governor-General of India (1828-1835), focusing on his decision to outlaw sati in 1829. They discuss the reformist climate of the time, influenced by Utilitarian thinkers like Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, and the role of Indian reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy. The episode covers the legal debates, the social impact, and B...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the devastating Calcutta earthquake of 1737, a disaster that claimed over 300,000 lives but was swiftly forgotten in Company records. They discuss the quake's impact on the fledgling settlement, the British East India Company's struggle to maintain control amid chaos, the role of the Hooghly River, and the lessons learned. The episode also touches on the coe...

In February 1689, the East India Company's fledgling Bombay settlement faced its greatest test. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, enraged by the Company's piracy and aggression under Sir Josiah Child, ordered the island's destruction. A Mughal fleet of over 100 ships blockaded Bombay, while Siddi Yakut Khan's forces landed and besieged the English fort. For nearly a year, the small garrison held out a...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the tenure of Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General of India from 1828 to 1835. They discuss his controversial reforms: the abolition of sati in 1829, the suppression of thuggee, the introduction of English education, and the financial reforms that sought to salvage the East India Company's crumbling finances. Bentinck also oversaw the annexation of Mysore...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's surprising role as patron of art and visual propaganda. They discuss the Tilly Kettle, the first British painter to travel to India, who set up shop in Calcutta and painted Indian nawabs in European style. They examine the Company's own artists—like Thomas Daniell and his nephew William, who produced aquatints of Indian landscapes th...

This episode traces the unlikely rise of Calcutta from a mosquito-ridden mudflat on the Hooghly River to the second city of the British Empire. Lucas and Luna explore the founding by Job Charnock in 1690, the pivotal Battle of Plassey in 1757, the construction of Fort William, and the cultural flowering of the Bengali Renaissance. Along the way, they discuss Siraj-ud-Daulah's attack, the Black Hol...

In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten world of Company accounting. Who audited the EIC? How did a corporation with global reach keep its books before modern accounting? They dive into the role of the Accountant-General in London, the use of double-entry bookkeeping, and the infamous scandal of the 1760s when auditors...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's transformation from a spice trader to the world's largest drug trafficker. They trace the origins of the tea trade from China, the silver drain that nearly bankrupted the Company, and the invention of a new currency: opium grown in Bengal. The conversation covers the rise of Canton as a trading port, the role of Hong merchants, the c...

In 1629, the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia wrecked on a remote coral atoll off Australia, setting off a chain of mutiny, massacre, and survival that reveals the brutal underside of corporate colonialism. Lucas tells Luna the story of undermerchant Jeronimus Cornelisz, who seized control after the wreck, orchestrating the murder of over 100 men, women, and children while the ship's commande...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna uncover the strange and tragic story of Captain William Kidd—not the romantic pirate of legend, but a privateer commissioned by the East India Company and the Crown to hunt pirates in the Indian Ocean. They explore how Kidd's mission went catastrophically wrong, leading him to turn pirate himself, and how his capture and execution became a propaganda tool for the Co...