Swedish Company of the Eastern Indies

The Swedish Compagnie of the Eastern Indies ( Svenska Ostindiska Companiet in Swedish) is a business enterprise founded in 1731 with an aim of trading with the territories located at the east of the Cape of Good Hope since the port of Gothenburg in Sweden. Between 1732 and 1806, these are 132 maritime forwardings which were carried out bound for the the Far East and, mainly, of the area of Canton in China. The formal disappearance of the company goes back to 1813.

In 1727, with Ostend, the Scot Hake Campbell (1686-1757) and the Swede Niclas Sahlgren (1701-1776) form the project of a “Swedish Company of the Eastern Indies”. Associated to the Swede Henrik König (1686-1736), they negotiate a Swedish royal privilege which, by letters patent of January 14th, 1731, enables them to constitute such a company for 15 years (1731-1746). This privilege is then renewed every 15 years, until 1806.

The direction of the company accommodates representatives of the principal commercial dynasties of Sweden of the time, resulting in particular from the families Sahlgren, Alströmer, Grill and Tham. But one counts there also many foreign merchants or of foreign origin, like the Scot Robert Finlay (1719-1785), the Swede of Scottish origin William Chalmers (1748-1811) and several König family members, of German origin. The big role played by Scot must much with the will of the latter to circumvent the monopoly of the English Compagnie of the Eastern Indies.

The first forwarding of the company leaves Gothenburg on February 9th, 1732, on board the Friedericus Rex Sueciae , a vessel of 20 guns and 100 men of crew, ordered by Georg Hermann af Trolle (1680-1765). Colin Campbell is voyage. All occurs without encumber to Canton. The goods then acquired on the spot are mainly Porcelaine and The. The return voyage appears difficult, in particular with the intervention of the Compagnie Dutchwoman of the Eastern Indies which, in January 1733, tries to block forwarding with Batavia in Indonesia. The Friedericus Rex Sueciae returns all the same to the wearing of Gothenburg, on August 27th, 1733, and its cargo, sold with the biddings, seems to have made it possible to release from substantial benefit.

Forwardings of the later years proceed generally about as follows:

departure of Gothenburg with a cargo of Iron, Copper and Wood comprising at the same time raw materials (like ore and boards) and end products (like axes and rifles);
stopover with Cadiz in Spain to exchange there the essence of the cargo against Spanish parts in money, this metal then being very snuffed by the Chinese;
arrived at Canton, six months after the departure of Gothenburg;
stay of approximately six months in Canton during which the merchants of forwarding exchange the Spanish parts against Chinese goods, like the, porcelain, Soie and furniture of luxury;
departure of Canton approximately a year after the departure of Gothenburg;
return to Gothenburg six months later, i.e. approximately a year and half after the beginning of forwarding;
sale of the cargo to the biddings in Gothenburg and distribution of the benefit.

The Chinese products that the company imports into Sweden are often sold to foreign tradesmen who reforward them towards other European countries. It is in particular the case of the, often re-exported towards England. It is estimated, in addition, that during its existence, the company brought back to Europe more than 50 million objects out of porcelain.

The role of the company exceeds however the purely commercial framework since it also touches with the fields diplomatic (Campbell Hake is thus responsible for a diplomatic mission at the time of the first forwarding, in 1732) and scientist (one of the directors of the company, Magnus Lagerström (1691-1759), thus constituted of rich person collections in natural history with the profit of the naturalist and botanist Carl von Linné whose several disciples in addition took part in forwardings, like Christopher Tärnström (1703-1746), Olof Torén (1718-1753), Carl Fredrik Adler (1720-1761) and Pehr Osbeck (1723-1805)). The Company also largely contributed to make known the Chinese China and products with the Swedes.

On the other hand, and contrary to what occurred for the companies from the Indies from other colonial powers from the time (England, Denmark, France, Netherlands), the Swedish Company of the Eastern Indies developed independently of the attempts aiming at constituting a colonial empire Swedish.

It is difficult to evaluate the benefit of the Swedish Company of the Eastern Indies because the accounts books were held secret and destroyed at the conclusion of each forwarding. It is estimated nevertheless that to invest in a voyage of the company could bring back 25 to 30 % of benefit, sometimes more.

The old warehouses of the company always exist. They shelter current the Musée of the town of Gothenburg ( Göteborgs Stadsmuseum in Swedish).

The counterpart of a ship of the company was carried out between 1993 and 2003. It is about the Götheborg which reproduces the plans of a ship which was built into 1737 before running in 1745, to the return of a voyage in China.

See too

Company of the Indies

External bond

the '' Götheborg '' (modern counterpart of a ship of the Swedish Company of the Eastern Indies)

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