Articles about trading companies

East India Company


China and the Silk Road

Silks, spices, tea and porcelain. These and other exotic products of China have been eagerly sought by Europeans since Roman times. But the land route through the Euroasian deserts along the "Silk Route" allowed only a trickle of Oriental products to reach the Western World.

The Ostend East-India Company

The trade from Ostend in the Austrian Netherlands to Mocha, India, Bengal and China started in 1715. Some private merchants from Antwerp, Ghent and Ostend were granted charters for the East-India-trade by the Austrian govemment that had recently come to power in the Southern Netherlands. Between 1715 and 1723, 34 ships sailed from Ostend to China, the Malabar or Coromandel coast, Surat, Bengal or Mocha.

V.O.C. or Dutch East India Company

On 20 March 1602, the prime companies of Holland merged to form a large company called "Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (V.O.C.)