The
Swedish East India Company (Swedish:
Svenska Ostindiska Companiet or
SOIC) was founded in
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with the
Far EastThe Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. The venture was inspired by the success of the
Dutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
and the
British East India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and grew to become the largest trading company in Sweden during the 18th century, though its European influence was marginal, until it folded in 1813.
Background
The roots for the new company extended more than a hundred years earlier. As early as 1626 the Dutchman
Willem UsselincxWillem Usselincx was a Flemish merchant, investor and diplomat who was instrumental in drawing both Dutch and Swedish attention to the importance of the New World...
received royal privileges from the Swedish king for a trading company, but wars and hard times had however stopped the company before it launched any ships to the
Far EastThe Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. Another attempt was made by pirates sailing out from
MadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, as they thought Sweden better suited as a base. They offered solid financial rewards, and negotiations were well advanced with the Swedish
King Karl XIICharles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...
at his camp in 1718 during his campaign towards
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. With the king's death the venture folded.
Sweden was impoverished after the
Great Northern WarThe Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
, and trade was therefore seen as an option for rebuilding the country. Opinions however were mixed, as steel and timber were used for trading; was it not a waste to exchange such goods for worthless tea and porcelain? The emerging Swedish textile industry was also threatened by the trade, so that the new company soon promised to refrain from shipping textiles: of sixty-one successfully returning voyages between 1733 and 1767, only three (of 1735, 1740 and 1742) carried cotton and silk textiles, and raw silk from
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
.
Establishing the SOIC
In 1729 the
ScottishThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
merchant
Colin CampbellColin Campbell was a Scottish merchant and entrepreneur who co-founded the Swedish East India Company and was Swedish King Fredrik I's first envoy to the Emperor of China.-Early life:...
got help for setting up a company with the Swede Henrik König, after initially discussing the idea with
Niclas SahlgrenNiclas Sahlgren , was a Swedish merchant and philanthropist.Born into a wealthy merchant family in Gothenburg, Sahlgren was sent at the age of 16 as an apprentice to the Tietzen & Schröder trading house in Amsterdam, where he learned languages and other aspects of trade...
. The reaction from the Swedish government was reluctant: the closing of the
Ostend CompanyThe Imperial Ostend Company was an Austrian private trading company established in 1717 to trade with the East and West Indies. For a few years it provided strong competition to the traditional colonial trading companies...
in 1731, based in
OstendOstend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
in the Austrian Netherlands and closed down in 1731 following British pressure as part of the
Treaty of ViennaThe Treaty of Vienna was first signed on 16 March 1731 by Count Finzendorf and the Earl of Chesterfield. This treaty marked the collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance , the beginning of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance and the birth of the legend of the natural enmity between the Kingdom of France and...
boded ill for the Swedes' competition against the main powers, where trade and politics were so intimately associated. König took the matters to the Swedish parliament and succeeded, gaining royal privileges for the company on 14 June 1731, initially for a period of 15 years. The company would have the right to all trade and shipping east of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
as far as
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
excepting the port "factories" of other European nations, unless free consent had been obtained in advance. The avoidance of maintaining port facilities and "factories" as the Dutch maintained, reduced the Company's overhead and minimized frictions with Indian and East Asian rulers.
All departures and arrivals should be out of
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, and cargo was to be auctioned promptly in Gothenburg on arrival, The Swedish state was to receive 100 riksdaler on each shipment, plus taxes: in 1712 100 riksdaler was worth 1200 marks.
The company could use as many vessels it wanted, but they were to be built and outfitted in Sweden, and taxed on their measured length, 100 riksdaler to the Crown per
last, and 2 to the city of Gothenburg. The ships were to fly the Swedish flag and carry Swedish ships' papers. The company's officers would have the same authority as Swedish naval officers, their crew exempted from the Swedish military service. The company had the right to defend itself, to "oppose force with force".
Goods and stores needed for the company were exempted from Swedish customs. The company had the right to issue shares to finance the trading trips. Early subscribers subscribed for each voyage and had the option of withdrawing their capital after its completion, in a traditional form of corporate trading partnerships; in 1753, this having been found inconvenient, it was determined that capital should be considered invested in the company as a whole, on the model of other East India companies. A partner desiring to withdraw his funds was responsible for finding another willing to substitute capital of his own.
And finally, the company was enjoined to maintain secrecy on finances and shareholders. The reasons behind this last provision were both internal and external: British citizens were forbidden to engage in trade on Asia and within Sweden suspicions ran high against foreigners, as they were thought to siphon off Sweden's riches. Jealousy from merchants not in the company also played a part. Thus the books were burned after they had been closed and revised, effectively concealing the company's dealings from contemporaries and historians.
The letter of privilege was translated into
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and distributed to the major powers. Their reaction was reluctant and they made clear that they considered the new company a most unwelcome competitor. The Swedish ambassador to Britain did not even dare to present the letter to the British government. Pledges of assistance at their bases if needed were not answered.
The first expedition
The driving force was the Scottish trader
Colin CampbellColin Campbell was a Scottish merchant and entrepreneur who co-founded the Swedish East India Company and was Swedish King Fredrik I's first envoy to the Emperor of China.-Early life:...
, who had gained firsthand knowledge of the China trade as supercargo for the Ostend Company; he was knighted by the
Swedish KingFrederick I, , was a prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and a King of Sweden from 1720 until his death and also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730...
and moved to Gothenburg to organise the first expedition. Campbell's reconstruction of his diary of the initial voyage, rediscovered in 1986, is a primary source. It sailed in 9 February 1732, as the vessel
Friedericus Rex Sueciae, with Campbell onboard, also appointed ambassador to the Chinese court, accomanied by the
Ulrica. The captain of
Fredericus was Georg Herman af Trolle: both he and Campbell had previously visited China. Altogether the crew was around one hundred.
The expedition started well – the Cape of Good Hope was passed, the vessel arrived safely in
Canton (Guangzhou)Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, the main trading port in China at the time, in September 1732, after 181 sailing days, and trading was carried out successfully, over four months' time. Initially, the goods sought were spices; however on later voyages demand soon meant that porcelain and tea made up the bulk of the trade.
On its return, the vessel was stopped by the Dutch between Java and
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, and brought to Batavia. Campbell protested and produced his papers, but the Dutch argued that they had suspected the vessel falsely flew the Swedish flag. The expedition was eventually released, but time was lost and the winds unfavourable. So many of the seamen died on route that the ship had to recruit Norwegian sailors upon reaching the coast of Norway.
On 27 August 1733 the vessel returned to Gothenburg, almost one and a half years after its departure. The voyage was a huge economic success, the auction bringing in some 900,000 Swedish riksdaler. The dividend paid was 25% of the capital invested.
Overview of expeditions
The charter was renewed in 1746, 1766 and 1786. In the first fifteen years of the company's charter, 25 ships were sent out, 3 to India and the rest to China; four of these were lost.
Under terms of the second charter 36 ships were sent out, 3 to
SuratSurat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
, the rest to Canton, and only one was lost. When its charter came up again for renewal in 1766, the Swedish state extorted a loan at 6% that was estimated in 1813 to have been the equivalent of £100,000, another, interest-free, of half that sum, to be repaid out of import duties, in essence an advance payment of duty.
During its entire existence from 1731 to 1813 the SOIC launched 132 expeditions. Of these a total of 8 ships were lost, totally or partially. Probably the sorest loss was the
Götheborg in 1745, as it sunk just off
Älvsborg FortressÄlvsborg, also Elfsborg Fortress, is a sea fortress located in today's Gothenburg , Sweden. Situated on the mouth of the Göta Älv river, it served to protect Sweden's access to the Atlantic Ocean and the nearby settlement of today's Gothenburg and its four predecessors. The fortress was relocated...
on the entrance to Gothenburg; it had managed to get safely to China and back. Even though most books were burned its evident that the voyages made huge profits for the shareholders, and many Swedes became wealthy due to the SOIC.
From Gothenburg the vessels carried iron, both in bars and processed, as axes, anchors, steel, etc. Copper was also brought, as was timber. The expeditions called at
CádizCadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
where they traded goods to acquire essential Spanish silver, on which the
China tradeChina trade may refer to* History of trade of the People's Republic of China * Economy of the People's Republic of China* Economic history of China * Economic history of modern China...
depended in the form of coins,
pesos duros, for their agreement was that silver they carried to China, coined or uncoined, could not be in Swedish coin.
The main cargo from China as of value was
teaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, in an overview from 1774 its share was about 90%. Much of the tea was re-exported and smuggled into England, undercutting the prices of that country's own trade monopoly. The other important item was porcelain, accounting for about 5% of the cargo's value. Over the years it is estimated that some 50 million pieces of porcelain were imported by the SOIC. A cargo tally printed by William Milburn in 1813 is instructive: first are the chests of tea of
BoheaBohea , a kind of oolong, or, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, black tea generally, as in Pope's line, "So past her time 'twixt reading and bohea.", or from Frances Hodgson Burnett's book 'A Lady Of Quality': "One may be sure that...many dishes of Bohea were drunk." Later the name 'bohea' has...
, 1,030,642 pounds of it, in 2885 chests, Congou (90,589 pounds), Souchong (67,388 pounds), Pekoe (17,205 pounds),
HysonHyson or Lucky Dragon Tea is a Chinese green tea that comes from the Anhui Provence of China. It is made from young leaves that are thinly rolled to have a long, twisted appearance that unfurls when brewed. The name Hyson is likely a Chinese name meaning "flourishing spring". However, some believe...
and "Hyson Skin" (5713 pounds together); textiles are listed next:
damaskDamask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave...
s and heavier damasks for furniture, satin, some of it "coloured and flowered",
paduasoyPaduasoy or padesoy is a luxurious strong corded or grosgrain silk textile that originated in Early Modern Europe. The term paduasoy first appeared in English in 1663....
, gorgoron,
taffetaTaffeta is a crisp, smooth plain woven fabric made from silk or synthetic fibers. The word is Persian in origin, and means "twisted woven." It is considered to be a "high end" fabric, suitable for use in ball gowns, wedding dresses, and in interiors for curtains or wallcovering. There are two...
s,
lampasLampas is a type of luxury fabric with a background weft typically in taffeta with supplementary wefts laid on top and forming a design, sometimes also with a "brocading weft". Lampas is typically woven in silk, and often has gold and silver thread enrichment.-History:Lampas weaves were developed...
and
Nankeen clothNankeen, also called Nankeen cloth, is a kind of pale yellowish cloth, originally made at Nanjing from a yellow variety of cotton, but subsequently manufactured from ordinary cotton which is then dyed...
, as well as 33 chests of raw silk; drugs:galangal root and "China root", sago and rhubarb; mother-of-pearl, some of it cut in thin "
jettoons" for gaming counters, and thin canes for hoops, painted wallpapers, and lacquer ("japanned") quadrille boxes and toilet tables and tablets for table tops; 6 tons of arrack; and porcelain, in 274 chests and 989 barrels and other packages.
The return on expeditions could be around 25-30% of capital invested, but up to 60% was achieved. Much depended on the merchants and the captain; the merchants had to close a large number of favourable deals, and the captain had the extremely difficult task of safely sailing the ship to China and back. The vessels were around 50 meters long, and besides cargo and men each also carried around 25-30 guns for self-defence. In most years of the period after 1766 one or two SOIC ships were loaded at Canton, or as many a four (1785-86. The last vessel returned to Gothenburg in March 1806, and even though the company had a privilege until 1821 it ceased to exist in 1813.
The company also used to pay tax to the Dey of Algiers and to carry Moroccan passports, thereby promising protection from raids by Berber pirates. These transactions are documented in receipts.
The mercantile expansion of the SOIC provided a setting for Jacob Wallenberg's comic
Min son på galejan ("My Son on the Galley") written during the 18-month round trip to Canton in 1769-71. Among his other joking and casual racism, Wallenberg parodies the serious accounts published by traveling naturalists in the wide web of Linnaeus' correspondence.
Revival of one SOIC vessel
In 1993 a project to recreate the
East Indiaman GötheborgGötheborg is a sailing replica of an 18th century Swedish East Indiaman. It is the world's largest operational wooden sailing vessel. The original sank off Gothenburg, Sweden on 12 September 1745 while approaching its home harbour after returning from her third voyage to China...
and sail her from Gothenburg to
CantonGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
was started. The project is today run by a firm that uses the same name as the original company. The vessel was reconstructed and sailed in October 2005 for China which it reached in July 2006, with a mixed crew of professionals and students. The ship have since then travelled around to many locations and maritime events all across the world.
See also
- William Chalmers
William Chalmers was a Swedish merchant and freemason. He was born in Gothenburg in 1748 as the son of the Scottish merchant, William Chalmers, Sr., and his Swedish wife, Inga Orre. William Chalmers Jr. was the oldest amongst his brothers James, George Andreas and Charles Chalmers...
, Swedish merchant of Scottish origin, director of the Swedish East India Company
- Anders Ljungstedt
Anders Ljungstedt Swedish merchant and historian.-Early career:Ljungstedt was born to a poor family in Linköping and attended Uppsala University for a time, but was forced to withdraw for lack of funds. In 1784, he went to Russia, where he worked as a teacher for ten years...
, Swedish merchant.
- Niclas Sahlgren
Niclas Sahlgren , was a Swedish merchant and philanthropist.Born into a wealthy merchant family in Gothenburg, Sahlgren was sent at the age of 16 as an apprentice to the Tietzen & Schröder trading house in Amsterdam, where he learned languages and other aspects of trade...
, Swedish merchant, director of the Swedish East India Company.
- The Swedish West India Company
The Swedish West India Company was a Swedish chartered company which was based in the West Indies. Between 1786 and 1805, the company operated from the Swedish island of Saint-Barthélemy....
, founded in 1786
- The British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, founded in 1600
- The Danish East India Company
The Danish East India Company was a Danish chartered company.-History:It was founded in 1616, following a privilege of Danish King Christian IV....
, founded in 1616
- The Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, founded in 1602
- The Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
, founded in 1621
- The Portuguese East India Company
- Background :Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the yearly India...
, founded in 1628
- The French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
, founded in 1664
External links