A Study On The Pepper Trade Of The British East India Company In The 17th And 18th Centuries

In the 17 th and 18 th centuries,the long-distance trade in Western Europe began to develop rapidly,and it was also the period when the British East India Company invested huge financial and material resources to establish colonies in order to monopolize the spice trade in Southeast Asia,and continued to compete for trade with Portugal and the Netherlands.In the early 17 th century,European spice markets exploded and European merchants came to Southeast Asia in droves.The British won a great victory in the Anglo-Portuguese War under the leadership of Lancaster,thus starting the spice trade with pepper as the main cargo in Southeast Asia.This article 17 to 18 centuries,the British east India company in southeast Asia to the pepper trade as the research object,and discusses the British,as the representative of mercantilism,founded with the support of the national franchise company and use the company open up Asian trade market,earn huge profits,meet the needs of domestic development,and to expand trade market to the Asian process,explains the historical influence of the pepper trade.The first part of this paper introduces the origin of the pepper trade and briefly summarizes the early history of the pepper trade in the world.It includes the exploration of pepper trade in Southeast Asia by various European countries in the 15 th and16th centuries,as well as the background and process of the establishment of the British East India Company.The second part mainly discusses the development of pepper trade of the British East India Company in the 17 th century.It mainly includes the initial attempt of the British East India Company to the pepper trade,the establishment of the pepper trading colony of the East India Company and the monopoly of the pepper trade on the west coast of Sumatra.The third part mainly elaborates the decline of the pepper trade of the British East India Company.The main performance is the decrease of the British East India Company’s pepper trade volume,the decline of the company’s profitability,the decline of the price of pepper trade and so on.Finally,on the basis of the foregoing discussion,the author discusses the characteristics and historical influence of pepper trade of the British East India Company.