The British Empire: A source for good or evil? January 2014 | Page 24

A. Hudson Bay Company
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In the 16th century, English people began to settle on the northest coast of North America
(Newfoundland,Canada). Bristish use the colonial system from 1750 to the midle of the 19th
century. The main reason for building an Empire was to improve trade. Troughout the 17th
century the Canadian fur trade was totally controlled by France. French found that The
Hudson’s Bay area was rich with fur.
In 1668, 2 ships were commisioned for exploration and trade in Hudson’s Bay. As the ships
returned in England with big quantity of fur, English were fully ready to participate in the
venture. They formed Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1970, the king of England granted them a
complete monopoly over the fur trade troughout the lands surrounding Hudson’s Bay.
Britain granted monopoly trading privileges and mineral rights to all the lands drained by
the water flowing into Hudson Bay.
It was an area fifteen times the size of Britain. The aim was to set up Canada to provide
goods such as fur. Britain also limited colonial trade to other countries. Britain practice
protectionism by forbidding them, taxing them and forcing them to stop at a British Port
first.
When the Seven Years War began, the fur trade continued out of Montréal. The First Nations
people had to be kept supplied, but the volume of exported furs steadily declined. Within a
year of the French capitulation at Montréal in September 1760 and the end of New France.

B. The East India Company
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The British East India Company was created the 31/12/1600 by a royal charter of Queen
Elisabeth 1st . This charter confer to this company and to the british the entire monopoly of
commerce in India and in the Indian Ocean. In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was sent in Agra
where he met the Great Mogul. The two mens sign a treaty which allowing the Company to
start having the economic monopoly in India. This is the beginning of the british domination
in India.
Then, the East India Compagny create strongholds in Calcutta, Madras and Surat and also
they hunt out of Bombay the portuguese colonizers and thus it extend his power in the all
India and also in the all Asia. In 1670, King Charles II granted by five orders to the
Company the right to acquire new autonomous territories, to coin money, to control armed
forces, to having diplomate activity and to exercise justices in its territories. In 1850, the
East India Company reachs its commercial peak: it control India, Asia ( it have created
Hong-Kong and Singapour) and also Indonesia and all of the Indian Ocean.
In all of the territories controled by the Company, colonizers try to develop the industry
without success. Agriculture stay very dominant and the members of the Company destroy
it : they « employ » Indians or Asians farmers for harvest sugar, cotton, coffee and also tea.
But, when the crop is done, they exported these products in England. So locals populations
have just a little part of these crop and this caused several famines during the last quarter of
the XIX century who made the dead of 25 million peoples in India. So, the East India
Company was a very good thing for the british peoples in England but at what cost for all of
the Indies who have suffered from the british domination their country.
In conclusion, British colonizers destructed the economy in all of their colonies because of
all exports they did since colonies to England. These exports were oragnized by several
british companies that became very powerful with this trading.