Episodes
The EIC's Forgotten Tea Auction: How London Priced an Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's tea auctions in London — the commercial engine that turned a Chinese luxury into Britain's national drink and bankrolled an empire. They trace the journey from Canton's hong merchants to the auction rooms of East India House, where lots of Bohea and Congou changed hands for fortunes. Along the way, they meet Samuel Johnson's tea-drinking habits, the Commutation Act of 1784 that slashed duties and boosted demand, and the rise of…
The EIC's Forgotten Tea Gardens: Darjeeling's First Planters
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the origins of Darjeeling tea, from the East India Company's first tentative experiments in the 1830s to the establishment of the region's earliest plantations. They discuss the role of Archibald Campbell, the superintendent who planted the first tea seeds in his private garden; the British-Indian Tea Committee's decision to shift focus from Assam to the Himalayan slopes; the arrival of Chinese seeds and seedlings via Robert Fortune's daring expeditions…
The EIC's Opium Gambit: Canton, Silver, and the Trade That Changed Asia
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the East India Company, having grown rich on tea, found itself caught in a silver crisis that pushed it into the opium trade. They trace the Company's shift from exporting silver to China to smuggling opium from Bengal, the rise of the 'country trade' and the private merchants who ran it, and the growing addiction crisis that led to the Daoguang Emperor's decision to send Lin Zexu to Canton. The episode covers the Canton system, the hong merchants…
The EIC's Last Gamble: The Charter Act of 1813
In our 200th episode, we step back from the battles and the tea to look at the moment the East India Company's monopoly was broken — the Charter Act of 1813. We talk about the lobbying in London, the changing mood in Parliament, and the arguments from Adam Smith and the free-traders. We meet the 'shipping interest' and the Manchester manufacturers, and we hear how the Company's own servants were divided. We also look at the strange irony that the Act was passed in the same year the Company…
The EIC's Forgotten Tea Tasters: How Britain Fell in Love with Black Tea
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the unlikely rise of black tea in Britain, a story that begins with the East India Company's early shipments of green tea and ends with the smoky, malty brews that came to define the nation's tea culture. We follow the Company's tea tasters — men like Nathaniel Wheatley and Richard Twining — who risked their reputations in the chaotic auctions of London's East India House, where fortunes were made and lost over a single chest of Bohea. We learn why green…
The EIC's Forgotten Diplomats: Agents, Residents, and the Fall of Awadh
Before the British Raj, the East India Company ruled through a web of agents and residents. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the forgotten career of George Williamson, the Company's man in Awadh, and the shadowy world of diplomatic intrigue that paved the way for conquest. From the nawab's court in Lucknow to the halls of Fort William, we explore how a trading company built an empire through careful negotiation, bribery, and the quiet threat of military force. Williamson's story reveals…
The EIC's Forgotten Forts: Bombay's Seven Islands
Before Bombay was a city, it was seven swampy islands held by the Portuguese, then given to the English as part of a royal wedding dowry. This episode digs into how the East India Company turned that soggy archipelago into its western command post. We follow the early governors—men like George Oxenden and Gerald Aungier—who drained marshes, built fortifications, and lured merchants with promises of religious tolerance. We look at the castle that gave the Bombay Marine its name, the dockyards…
The EIC's Forgotten Tea Plant: Robert Bruce and Assam
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the East India Company's search for a homegrown tea supply led to the 'discovery' of the tea plant in Assam, a story of the Scottish adventurer Robert Bruce, his brother Charles, and the indigenous Singpho people. They discuss the botanical confusion between China and Assam tea, the role of the Calcutta Botanical Garden and Nathaniel Wallich, the commercial ambitions that drove the Company to break China's tea monopoly, and the labor migration of tea…
The EIC's Tea Trade and the Taste for Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace how the East India Company's tea trade reshaped British tastes and the global economy. From the first tea cargoes arriving in London in the 1660s to the rise of the Canton trade and the opium crisis, they explore how a luxury drink became a national obsession. Along the way, they meet the hong merchants of Canton, the supercargoes who brokered deals, and the Company's shift from pepper to tea. They also unpack the financial mechanics — the specie drain, the…
The EIC's Forgotten Shipwrights: Bomba's Wadia Family
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore how the East India Company's Bombay dockyard became the greatest shipbuilding center of the eighteenth century, and the family that made it possible: the Wadias. Born into the Parsi shipbuilding tradition, Lowji Nuserwanji Wadia and his descendants constructed over 300 vessels for the Company, including the famous HMS Minden, whose timbers were allegedly used in the US national anthem. Lucas traces the Wadias' rise from master…
The EIC's Forgotten Spy: The Mystery of George Williamson
In the 1770s, as the East India Company tightened its grip on Bengal, a shadowy figure named George Williamson operated in the cracks between the Company's councils and the crumbling Mughal court. Was he a spy, a double agent, or a freelance adventurer? This episode follows the paper trail—letters in Persian, coded messages, and an audacious plot to unseat the Nawab of Awadh—to reconstruct the life of a man who almost changed the course of empire. Lucas and Luna untangle Williamson's web of…
The EIC's Forgotten Banker: Jagat Seth and the Fall of Bengal
Before the Battle of Plassey, the richest man in the world wasn't a king or a company — he was a banker. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the rise of the Jagat Seth family, the Oswal Jain moneylenders who controlled Bengal's treasury and financed the Mughal court. They uncover how Fatehchand's grandson, Mahatab Chand, managed a fortune so vast it rivaled the wealth of entire nations. But when the East India Company sought allies against Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Jagat Seths became the…
The EIC's Forgotten Navy: Bombay Marine and the Pirates
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the East India Company's little-known naval force, the Bombay Marine. They trace its origins from a few armed merchantmen protecting Surat in the 1610s to a formidable fleet that hunted pirates like the notorious Kanhoji Angre, who defied both the Company and the Mughal Empire from his coastal fortress. Lucas explains how the Marine's innovative use of 'galivats' and its role in the Anglo-Maratha conflicts shaped the Company's rise, culminating in its…
The EIC's Forgotten Mint: Coins of the Company Raj
In this episode, Lucas and Luna uncover the East India Company's role as a currency maker, not just a trader. From the silver rupees struck at the Murshidabad mint to the copper pice that villagers actually used, they trace how the Company's coins — bearing the name of the Mughal emperor but controlled by London — quietly became the money of an empire. They explore the Sicca rupee, the Arcot rupee, the gold mohur, and the strange story of the Company's copper coinage, which was so scarce that…
The EIC's Forgotten Fort: St George and the Birth of Madras
In 1640, on a sliver of beach in southern India, two East India Company traders made a deal with a local king that would grow into the city of Madras. This episode tells the story of Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, the founding of Fort St George, and how a modest trading post became the Company's first bastion of power in India. We follow the fort's rise under agents like Streynsham Master, its capture by the French under La Bourdonnais in 1746, and its return through the Treaty of…
The EIC's Forgotten Accountant: The Great Specie Drain
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a crisis that nearly strangled the East India Company from within: the Great Specie Drain of the late 18th century. While the Company was conquering Bengal and raking in revenue from the Diwani, silver bullion was pouring out of British coffers to pay for Chinese tea, and the entire edifice teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. They follow the journey of a single silver dollar from a London counting house to a Canton hong merchant's strongbox, and back…
The EIC's Forgotten Scandal: The Great Bengal Bubble of 1757
In 1757, Robert Clive's victory at Plassey didn't just win the East India Company a kingdom — it triggered a financial frenzy that made the South Sea Bubble look tame. This episode digs into the forgotten scandal of the Great Bengal Bubble, when Company employees and London speculators alike gambled fortunes on the Company's sudden dominion over Bengal's treasure. We follow the money from the battlefield to the stock exchange, meet the key players — from Clive himself to the mysterious "nabobs"…
The First English Ship in Japan: William Adams and the EIC
In 1613, the East India Company's first voyage to Japan found an unexpected ally: an Englishman who had arrived thirteen years earlier on a Dutch ship. William Adams, known to the Japanese as Miura Anjin, had become a samurai, a confidant of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the key to English trade in the Far East. This episode traces Adams's extraordinary journey from a shipwrecked pilot to a trusted advisor, and how his personal bond with Ieyasu opened the doors for the EIC's factory at…
Battle of Swally How the East India Company Beat the Portuguese
In 1612, the East India Company was a struggling newcomer facing a daunting adversary: the Portuguese Empire, which held a monopoly on Indian Ocean trade. When a Portuguese fleet blockaded the Mughal port of Surat, the Company sent Captain Thomas Best with two ships to break the siege. The resulting Battle of Swally was a stunning naval victory that proved the EIC's military capability and won them a foothold in India. This episode dives into the clash, the personalities involved—from the…
Battle of Buxar: How the EIC Became the Ruler of Bengal
In 1764, three years after the Battle of Plassey, the East India Company fought a far more decisive engagement at Buxar in Bihar. Opposing them were the combined forces of Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal; Shuja-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Awadh; and the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Led by Major Hector Munro, the Company's sepoy army defeated a much larger coalition, killing over 6,000 soldiers. The subsequent Treaty of Allahabad granted the Company the Diwani—the right to collect revenue—over…
The Black Hole of Calcutta: Myth, Propaganda, and Reality
In June 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah, captured Fort William in Calcutta. What happened next became one of the most notorious episodes in East India Company history: the Black Hole of Calcutta. But how much of the story—123 prisoners suffocating in a tiny cell overnight—is true? This episode unpacks the sole account by John Holwell, the clash between British propaganda and modern scholarship, and how the event was used to justify Robert Clive's retaliation at Plassey. We examine…
The EIC's Forgotten War: The Treaty of Salbai
In 1775, the East India Company found itself drawn into the treacherous politics of the Maratha Empire, launching a war that would nearly destroy its Indian ambitions. Three years later, after a humiliating defeat at Wadgaon, the Company's fortunes were reversed by a daring march across the subcontinent led by Colonel Goddard. But it was the Treaty of Salbai, signed in 1782, that truly shaped the Company's future — a peace deal engineered by Warren Hastings and Mahadji Shinde that gave the…
The Sepoys of the East India Company
This episode uncovers the forgotten story of the East India Company's private army: the sepoys. We trace the origins of the Bengal Army from the 1750s, when the Company began recruiting Indian soldiers to protect its factories and expand its territories. Learn about the recruitment from high-caste Hindu communities in Bihar and Awadh, the structure of the three presidency armies, and the crucial role of the sepoys in battles like Plassey and Buxar. We then explore the growing tensions: the…
The EIC's First Fleet: Lancaster's Voyage to the East Indies
Before the East India Company became a territorial power, it was a risky maritime venture. In 1601, the first fleet set sail under James Lancaster, a privateer turned merchant. This episode dives into the voyage of the Red Dragon, the capture of a Portuguese carrack, and the establishment of the Company's first factory at Bantam in Java. We explore the brutal realities of early spice trade—scurvy, shipwrecks, and the razor-thin margins that made or broke investors. How did a struggling…
Sir Thomas Roe at the Mughal Court: When the EIC Begged for Permission
Before the East India Company raised armies and conquered provinces, it was a struggling network of merchants begging for trading rights. This episode takes you to the Mughal court of Emperor Jahangir in 1615, where a young English diplomat named Sir Thomas Roe spent three years navigating palace intrigue, opium-addled emperors, and the powerful Empress Nur Jahan. Roe's mission: secure a farman—a royal decree—that would allow the Company to trade freely in Mughal ports. We explore the cultural…
The Amboyna Massacre: When the Dutch Executed English Traders
In 1623, English traders on the remote Spice Island of Amboyna were tortured and executed by Dutch authorities, accused of plotting to seize the fortress. This episode unpacks the Amboyna Massacre: its causes in the brutal Anglo-Dutch rivalry for nutmeg and cloves, the role of VOC Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the harrowing testimony of survivors, and the diplomatic fallout that reshaped the East India Company's strategy. Historians still debate whether the conspiracy was real or a…
Mir Jafar and the Dual Government of Bengal
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the East India Company installed Mir Jafar as Nawab of Bengal, but he was a puppet whose strings were pulled from Calcutta. Over the next decade, the Company's relationship with its Bengali puppets soured, leading to the revolt of Mir Qasim and the decisive Battle of Buxar in 1764. That victory gave the Company the diwani — the right to collect revenue — turning it from a trading corporation into the de facto ruler of Bengal. But instead of governing…
The EIC's Permanent Settlement: The Land Tax That Shaped Bengal
In 1793, Lord Cornwallis, fresh from his defeat at Yorktown, implemented one of the most consequential policies in British Indian history: the Permanent Settlement of Bengal. This episode explores how the East India Company tried to stabilize its chaotic revenue system by fixing land taxes forever—creating a class of zamindars who became the backbone of rural power, but at the cost of the ryots, the actual farmers. We follow the thinking behind Cornwallis's reforms, the unintended consequences…
The EIC's Forgotten Cargo: Slaves and the Oceanic Trade
In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into a dark and often overlooked aspect of the East India Company's operations: its involvement in the transoceanic slave trade. From the 17th century onward, Company ships transported enslaved Africans and Indians to plantation economies in the Mascarene Islands, the Cape, and even within Asia. We examine the scale of this trade, the role of key figures like Sir John Child, and the Company's resistance to abolition. Drawing on primary sources and recent…
The EIC's Forgotten Tea: From Canton to the Boston Tea Party
We trace the East India Company's tea trade from its origins in Canton to its explosive consequences in Boston Harbor. Lucas explains how the Company's monopoly on Chinese tea was the financial backbone of its empire, shipping millions of pounds annually in the fastest ships of the age. We explore the Tea Act of 1773, which was meant to bail out the overstocked Company but instead triggered the American Revolution. Luna asks about the taste of 18th-century tea versus modern tea, and how the…
The EIC's Forgotten Mapmaker: Jean-Baptiste d'Anville and the Atlas of Asia
Lucas and Luna explore the cartographic rivalry between the British East India Company and the French geographer Jean-Baptiste d'Anville, who created one of the most accurate maps of Asia in the 18th century without ever leaving his Paris study. They discuss how d'Anville compiled data from Jesuit missionaries, Mughal surveys, and Company records to produce his 1750 'Atlas of China', challenging British monopolies on geographic knowledge. The episode touches on the hidden influence of French…
The EIC's Forgotten Rebel: Yakut Khan and the Siege of Bombay 1689
In 1689, a year before the Mughal War that nearly broke the East India Company's hold on western India, an Adil Shahi admiral named Yakut Khan—also known as the Siddi of Janjira—led a devastating attack on Bombay. This episode explores the 1689 Siege of Bombay from the perspective of Yakut Khan, a naval commander who had served the Mughals and the Adil Shahi sultanate, and whose fleet of small, fast vessels outmanoeuvred the Company's East Indiamen in Bombay Harbour. We discuss the strategic…
The EIC's Forgotten Opium: How the Company Addicted China
In this episode, we uncover the East India Company's transformation from a trader in spices and cloth to the world's largest drug cartel. Lucas and Luna trace the opium trade's origins in Bengal's poppy fields, the Company's monopoly on production at Patna, and the clever use of 'country trade' ships to smuggle chests into Canton. We meet figures like Charles Cornwallis, who tightened control over cultivation, and the 'factory' at Patna that turned raw opium into chests stamped with the…
How the East India Company Nearly Went Bankrupt in 1772
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's near-collapse in 1772, triggered by a credit crisis in London and massive debts from the Bengal famine. They discuss the Company's financial structure, the role of Lord North's government, the Regulating Act of 1773, and the impact of the Tea Act that led to the Boston Tea Party. Key figures include Lord North, Warren Hastings, and Robert Clive. The episode examines how the Company's financial troubles reshaped its relationship…
The EIC's Forgotten Execution: Company Bahadur and the Trial of Warren Hastings
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore one of the most dramatic political trials of the 18th century: the impeachment of Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal. Hastings was charged with corruption, cruelty, and mismanagement by the British Parliament, including the torture of Indian rajas, the bribery of judges, and the illegal confiscation of lands. The trial, which lasted from 1788 to 1795, was a sensation in London, featuring star witnesses like Edmund Burke and Philip…
The EIC's Forgotten Shipwright: Lowji Nasarvanji Wadia and Bombay's Dockyards
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the pivotal but often overlooked role of Lowji Nasarvanji Wadia, a Parsi master shipwright who transformed Bombay into a major shipbuilding centre for the East India Company. They discuss how Wadia's expertise, honed in Surat, was recruited by Governor Gerald Aungier in the late 17th century to build the Bombay Dockyard, which launched some of the finest ships in the Company's fleet. The conversation covers the challenges of constructing dry docks in a…
The EIC's Forgotten Fortress: Bombay Castle and the Island City
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the early years of Bombay under the East India Company. They discuss how the port city grew from a sparsely inhabited island into a strategic hub, driven by the construction of Bombay Castle and the vision of Governor Gerald Aungier. The conversation touches on the role of Parsi shipbuilders like Lowji Nasarvanji Wadia, the threat from the Siddi of Janjira, and the development of the Bombay Presidency. Listeners will learn about the Koli fishing…
The EIC's Forgotten Bankers: The Jagat Seth and the Battle of Plassey
This episode uncovers the story of the Jagat Seth, the banking dynasty that financed the Mughal Empire and, ultimately, helped the East India Company conquer Bengal. We explore how Fateh Chand and his nephew Mahtab Rai controlled the flow of gold and silver across the subcontinent, issuing hundis — bills of exchange — that moved fortunes without a coin changing hands. The Jagat Seth's role in the 1757 Battle of Plassey is often reduced to a footnote, but their decision to back Robert Clive…
The EIC's Forgotten Failure: The Siege of Bombay 1689
In 1689, the East India Company faced its greatest humiliation: the Mughal siege of Bombay. After years of escalating tensions with Emperor Aurangzeb, the Company's arrogant military adventures in Bengal and on the western coast backfired spectacularly. A Mughal fleet under the Siddi admiral Yakut Khan blockaded Bombay Harbour, and thousands of Koli and Siddi soldiers stormed the island, burning the fledgling settlement and trapping the British inside Bombay Castle. This episode follows the…
The Company's First Factory: Masulipatnam and the Coromandel Coast
Before Surat, before Bombay, before Madras—the East India Company's very first foothold in India was a small trading post on the Coromandel Coast called Masulipatnam. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Company arrived in 1611, negotiated with the Sultan of Golconda, and began exporting calico and chintz. They uncover the role of the Dutch and Portuguese rivals, the impact of local weavers, and why this forgotten factory was abandoned for Madras. Along the way, they touch on the…
The EIC's Forgotten Cartographer: James Rennell and the Map of Bengal
In 1764, a young British surveyor named James Rennell was sent to map Bengal for the East India Company. Fresh from the Battle of Buxar, the Company had just won the diwani—the right to collect revenue from Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. But they had no idea what they actually controlled. Rennell's task was to turn an unknown land into a measurable, taxable territory. Over the next decade, he walked thousands of miles with a compass and a perambulator, working alongside local surveyors called amin…
The EIC's Forgotten Naval Battle: The Bombay Harbour Clash of 1689
When the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb decided to crush the East India Company in the 1680s, the English didn't surrender quietly—they fought a desperate naval battle in Bombay Harbour. This episode follows the Company's war with the Mughals, the siege of Bombay, and the remarkable stand by Captain Richard Keigwin and the Bombay fleet. We explore how a few armed merchant ships held off the Mughal navy, the role of the Siddi admiral Yaqub Khan, and the Treaty of Bombay that saved the Company's Indian…
The EIC's Forgotten Treaty: The Treaty of Paris 1763
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Treaty of Paris of 1763, a pivotal agreement that reshaped the global balance of power and cemented the East India Company's transformation from a trading corporation to a territorial power. They discuss how the Seven Years' War ended with France ceding its Indian possessions to Britain, leaving the Company as the dominant European force on the subcontinent. The episode covers key figures like Robert Clive and the Comte de Lally, the Siege of…
The EIC's Forgotten War: The First Anglo-Maratha Conflict
Before Robert Clive's victory at Plassey, the East India Company faced a far more dangerous enemy: the Maratha Empire. This episode dives into the First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782), a brutal conflict that nearly ended the Company's ambitions in India. We trace the causes—from the death of Peshwa Madhavrao I to the Treaty of Surat—and follow the campaign of Colonel Thomas Goddard across the subcontinent. Discover the crucial role of Mahadji Shinde, the Maratha general who outmaneuvered the…
The EIC's Forgotten Governor: Robert Clive's First Plassey
In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna dive into the controversial legacy of Robert Clive — not the familiar 'Clive of India' of later fame, but his early, audacious capture of Arcot in 1751. At just 26, Clive led a tiny force of 200 British soldiers and 300 sepoys to seize the capital of the Carnatic, a move that stunned the Nawab's army and shifted the balance of power in southern India. We explore the siege of Arcot, the double game…
The EIC's Forgotten Embassy: Thomas Roe at Jahangir's Court
In 1615, King James I sent Sir Thomas Roe to the court of Mughal Emperor Jahangir to secure trading rights for the fledgling East India Company. Roe spent three years at the Mughal court, navigating delicate diplomacy, lavish gifts, and cultural misunderstandings. This episode follows Roe's letters and journal as he wins a firman from Jahangir, the first official permission for the Company to trade in India. We explore the tension between Roe's expectations as a European ambassador and the…
The East India Company's Forgotten Factory: Bombay Before the Castle
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the early history of Bombay before it became the East India Company's commercial capital. They discuss the Koli fishing communities who originally inhabited the island, the Portuguese cession of Bombay to England as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry in 1661, and the Company's initial reluctance to accept the territory. They dive into the vision of Governor Gerald Aungier, who transformed Bombay into a fortified city with Bombay Castle, attracting…
The EIC's Forgotten Language: Persian and Company Diplomacy
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the East India Company used Persian as its diplomatic and administrative language for over a century. They discuss the rise of Persian in Mughal India, the Company's adoption of Persian for treaties and court dealings, the role of munshis (secretaries), and the eventual decline of Persian under Lord William Bentinck. The conversation touches on key figures like William Jones and Mirza Muhammad Hasan Qatil, and includes a reading from a Persian firman.…
The EIC's Forgotten Island: St Helena and Napoleon
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the East India Company's rule over St Helena, the tiny South Atlantic island where Napoleon was exiled after Waterloo. They trace the EIC's 250-year history as the island's proprietor, from its discovery by the Portuguese to its transformation into a Company plantation and strategic stopover for East Indiamen. The conversation covers the island's unique society of Company officials, enslaved Africans, imported Chinese laborers, and the famous Longwood…
The EIC's Forgotten General: Stringer Lawrence and the Madras Army
Before Clive, before Plassey, there was Stringer Lawrence — the gruff, debt-ridden veteran who shaped the East India Company's first real army in Madras. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace Lawrence's rise from a cashiered officer in the British Army to Commander-in-Chief of Company forces in India. They wade through the Carnatic Wars, where Lawrence faced the French commander Joseph Dupleix and his brilliant protégé, the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau. They explore his mentorship of Robert…
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