Myopia or strategic behavior? Indian regimes and the East India Company in late eighteenth century India

The East India Company's conquest of India was facilitated by the behavior of its Indian rivals who not only did not ally against it, but often supported it militarily. Historians have typically attributed this to myopia, the failure to understand the long-term threat represented by the Company. We examine the negotiations leading up to a key conflict, the Third Mysore War, and find that the Company's allies were not myopic. The British parliament had, in 1784, passed Pitt's India Act, which limited the scope for unprovoked military aggression by the Company in India. This had changed the behavior of the Company, making its promises more credible. This enhanced credibility made it possible for the Company to secure as allies Indian regimes that were acting strategically in their self-interest. This is a new explanation for an old puzzle.     

Sinews of trade and empire: the supply of commodity exports to the East India Company during the late eighteenth century

It has long been thought that the East India Company's export trade was of little importance to the domestic economy. This article challenges such a view by providing a detailed reconstruction of the supply systems through which goods were procured for shipment to Asia. As well as quantifying Company expenditure on commodities and identifying regional industries linked to the East India trade, the article demonstrates how manufactures and raw materials needed to be adapted to the special demands of Asian markets. It concludes that the Company's domestic economic influence was far more widely felt than has hitherto been acknowledged.