Portuguese East India Company
| Portuguese East India Company Companhia do Commércio da Índia
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | August 1628 |
| resolution | April 1633 |
| Seat | Paço da Ribeira ( Lisbon ) |
The Portuguese East India Company ( Portuguese Companhia do commércio da Índia or Companhia da Índia Oriental ) was a short-lived and unfortunate attempt by Philip III. of Portugal to set up a national trading company to represent interests in Portuguese India in the face of attacks by the Dutch and British East India Companies after the personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns.
background
The Portuguese Indian trade had been a monopoly of the Crown since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly was administered by the Casa da Índia , the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the annual Portuguese India Armadas . However, by 1560 the finances of the Casa were in dire straits and in 1570 King Sebastian of Portugal issued an ordinance to open trade with India to every private Portuguese citizen. When only a few accepted the offer, the free trade decree in 1578 was replaced by a new system of annual monopolies in which the Casa India sales contracts to a private Portuguese trading consortium, giving them a monopoly for one year. This annual contract system was abandoned in 1597 and the royal monopoly resumed.
The Iberian Union of 1580, which gave King Philip II of Spain the crown of Portugal, initially changed little. But the strong Dutch VOC and British EIC intervened in the Portuguese Empire and trade in Asia after 1598, forcing the king to experiment with various arrangements to defend the Portuguese positions. In 1605 he created the Consejo de Indias to bring matters in Portuguese India under the closer supervision of the Habsburg Crown. But that contradicted older lines of Portuguese authority, and the council was eventually disbanded in 1614.
suggestion
It was around this time (1614) that the idea of a private Portuguese East India trading company organized according to Dutch and English trading companies was first raised. This was promoted by the Portuguese New Christian merchant and mercantilist Duarte Gomes Solis, who lived in Madrid, particularly in his Spanish-language treatise Discursos sobre los Comercios de las Indias (published 1622, although circulated earlier). Solis argued that a private joint-stock company could raise more capital, revitalize Asian trade, and compete more efficiently with the Anglo-Dutch in the Indian Ocean .
King Philip III of Portugal promoted the idea in 1624, appointing D. Jorge Mascarenhas (Mayor of Lisbon ) and member of the State Council to chair a committee and implement Solis proposal. Despite the support of Olivares , the proposal met with a great deal of skepticism and opposition, particularly from the Duke of Villahermosa , and Mascarenhas had considerable difficulty securing investment commitments.
The company
The Companhia do commércio da Índia (or Companhia da Índia Oriental ) finally came into being in August 1628, when it was given by King Philip III. received a charter. The Companhia was to be governed by a Câmara de Administração Geral , composed of a President (Jorge Mascarenhas) and six administrators elected by the investors, who had all powers, even if their court records, administrative practices and finances were subject to review by an advisory Conselho do Comércio at the Commercial Court in Madrid . The charter provided for a transition period of two years during which the Royal Conselho da Fazenda (Royal Council of Finance) would continue to oversee the India Armadas , the Casa da Índia and the Armazém da Índia (Camp in India), before they were handed over to the Companhia administration. The Companhia would be responsible for executing and collecting the customs fees that are payable at the Casa.
The Companhia was founded with a share package of six years, which could be extended for a further six years, with a minimum subscription of 100 cruzados . The Companhia received a monopoly for the trade in coral, pepper, cinnamon, ebony and cowrie shells and could be expanded to other goods upon request. It had full administrative and legal privileges, including the right to keep all spoils from confiscated Dutch and English ships (after deduction of the royal fifth).
The crown was the largest investor, signing 1,500,000 cruzados in the first three years. Although some municipalities (especially Lisbon) had invested, private individuals were less interested. To make it attractive, subscribers were guaranteed an annual return of 4% plus dividends and the subscriptions were given various privileges (e.g. royal titles, debt repossession protection, even the capital of the New Christians, given by the Portuguese Inquisition had some level of protection). Although there were precautions against any other East Indian trading company established in the Habsburg Territories, investments in the Companhia were open to all of Philip III's subjects. and its allies (i.e. Spaniards, Italians, Flemings, etc.). Nonetheless, none of this was enough to get a lot of enthusiasm from private individuals. The company was started with only about half of the originally launched capital.
The end
The Companhia proved unsuccessful. Investors remained skeptical, foreign Portuguese traders rejected the authority of the new Companhia, and the Anglo-Dutch break of the old Portuguese empire in Asia had become irreparable and squeezed margins on the spice trade. The Companhia proved to be unprofitable and soon ceased operations and was dissolved in April 1633. The Casa da Índia and India trade were brought back under the supervision of the Conselho da Fazenda (Royal Finance Council).
literature
- AR Disney: The First Portuguese India Company, 1628-33. In: Economic History Review. Volume 30, No. 2, 1977, pp. 242-258.