East India Company Capital, 1660-1700
How did the English East India Company (EIC) acquire a permanent capital? Chaudhuri proposed that freely tradeable shares clinched the transition to a permanent capital. But shares only became freely tradeable in 1673. This chapter hypothesises that free trading of shares depended on control over the General Court. Once control had been established, approval protocols for share transfers could be relaxed. This chapter presents near-complete reconstructions of EIC stock ownership for years between 1657 and 1674, and continuous stock trading data from 1659 to 1679. The analysis uses Berle (1958)’s definitions of ‘absolute’ and ‘working’ control to assess power in the General Court. Additionally, a directed network analysis of the EIC stock trading universe was conducted to judge market quality for EIC shares.
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This page was last updated on 15 April 2025
