[HN Gopher] Exploring the richness and variety of letters sent t...
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Exploring the richness and variety of letters sent to the East
India Company
Author : Petiver
Score : 74 points
Date : 2022-10-26 22:37 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blogs.bl.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (blogs.bl.uk)
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| The East India Company were the world's first narcos.
| mradek wrote:
| You're not wrong. They purposefully funneled opium into China
| to get their silver bullion to open up trade, whilst also
| destroying an entire generation.
|
| Destruction of people was basically the EIC's MO.
| detritus wrote:
| Not really, it was 'just' sheer largely-unhinged capitalism.
|
| Plus ca change.
| somenameforme wrote:
| Fun historic footnote on that as well. After China tried to
| enforce their ban on opium trade, Britain declared war on
| them to try to force them to accept it. The Brits won and
| thereafter claimed Hong Kong as one of the spoils of war. A
| spoil that was returned only in 1997, after which an
| invisible (and on occasion not so invisible) game of tug-of-
| war ensued. Can't wait to read the next chapter!
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| It doesn't stop with one generation.
|
| As Chinese workers immigrated into America, they opened opium
| dens here too.
|
| https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Chinatown%27s_Opium_.
| ..
|
| Then, the opium poppy, a plant not endemic to the Americas,
| started being cultivated in Mexico. Why Mexico? because the
| US banned Chinese immigration.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act
|
| We cannot ever blame the drug crisis on the British because
| it breaks the rules of history where history is written by
| the victors. We have to let people get away with stuff. We
| cannot describe the EIC as narcos, and if someone does, we
| have to downvote them.
| mjburgess wrote:
| The problem with this analysis is: where does the buck
| stop?
|
| Why does moral responsibility always stop with Europeans?
| Does Europe posses some Adult Moral capability the Mexicans
| lack?
|
| Whatever story of woe you want to tell about why "china did
| X", can be told likewise about europe. The buck, stops
| where then? The Romans? The Celts?
| SrslyJosh wrote:
| > Why does moral responsibility always stop with
| Europeans?
|
| Probably because they were the ones violently subjugating
| everyone else.
| MaysonL wrote:
| I've just been reading Babel, by R.F.Kuang, a fantasy novel which
| explores the E.I.C. in a strange and wonderful way. Well worth
| reading.
| sklargh wrote:
| Encourage persons interested in these letters to read The Anarchy
| by William Dalrymple. Summarizes establishment of East India Co.
| and subsequent financial outcomes and violence.
| Jun8 wrote:
| If you want to delve into the history of EIC (and you should,
| esp. if you're interested in how Northern Europe's tremendous
| growth was fueled) I suggest reading _The Anarchy_ by Dalrymple.
| It has great detail but also vey well written and engaging
| (qualities usually hard to combine in history books).
| pinkwinds wrote:
| Also in the same vein Dalrymple and Anita Anand have a podcast
| called Empire.
| la64710 wrote:
| And for the perspective of the modern jewel of the empire May I
| suggest watching the views of Indias MP and diplomat Mr Shashi
| Tharoor https://youtu.be/1giYXrofZYo
| hawk_ wrote:
| The video linked by parent is light on details. This one has
| more details if anyone's interested (A debate on the empire
| but many of the things apply to EIC)
| https://youtu.be/f7CW7S0zxv4
| notart666 wrote:
| Are we considering the UK the entirety of Northern Europe now?
| That's a bold claim. If I recall correctly most of northern
| Europe stayed in poverty long after the end of the British East
| India Company
| Jun8 wrote:
| I wasn't clear in my comment: note that the Dutch India
| Company was a precursor to the EIC and there was a lot of
| competition between the two( among other powers). The concept
| of LLC was mainly invented there. The book covers these
| points extensively and contrast the development in Southern
| Europe.
| DiggyJohnson wrote:
| No, this seems like a naive uninformed comment unless you say
| more.
| biorach wrote:
| The tone of your comment was unnecessarily sarcastic and
| confrontational.
| hungryforcodes wrote:
| Or just pointing out his / her opinion. Words like "bold
| claim" and "if I recall correctly" are hardly sarcastic or
| confrontational.
| languageserver wrote:
| making absurd statements that generalizes countries based
| on another country's company deserves confrontation. What
| does Sweden have to do with a British company? seems very
| culturally insensitive
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