---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 6:56 AM
Subject: East India Company - Economist Article - A private army of 200 000 men
To:
econowmix@googlegroups.comhttp://www.economist.com/node/21541753
The East India Company
The Company that ruled the waves
As state-backed firms once again become forces in global business, we ask what they can learn from the greatest of them all
Dec 17th 2011 | from the print edition
excerpt :
The Company’s growing involvement in politics infuriated its mighty army of critics still further. How could it justify having a monopoly of trade as well as the right to tax the citizens of India? And how could a commercial organisation justify ruling 90m Indians, controlling 70m acres (243,000 square kilometres) of land, issuing its own coins, complete with the Company crest, and supporting an army of 200,000 men, all of which the East India Company did by 1800?