The Anarchy of William Dalrymple

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Occasionally, very rarely, in fact, one reads a book so powerful that it is impossible to review it, at least until the dust that has been dispersed by its disturbance begins to settle. It can happen when something causes anger, revulsion, astonishing admiration, or raw emotion. And it’s not often that such a book comes from the nonfiction section, and it’s even rarer for it to be pulled off the shelves labeled Economic History.

But The Anarchy, by William Dalrymple, is one of those books. The Anarchy should be more literally entitled The Company, since it presents the history of a single commercial entity, expressed in the form of a biography of a being that had a life of its own. The title conveys the author’s final judgment on this entity, but given the detail of its history, it probably falls short, even generous in its recognition.

The book tells the story of the East India Company, the British, not the Dutch, not the French. There are surely similar corporate bios elsewhere. They may even exist, but we can be sure that the impact, although possibly qualitatively similar, would be quantitatively less significant. The bare and unadorned facts of this company’s history begin with its founding in the City of London in the late 16th century as a joint venture by a group of investors. It grew thanks to its involvement in the spice trade and slavery in the 17th century, before reaching quasi-imperial status in the 18th century, when it effectively ruled India. It continued to expand in the 19th century until its implosion in the middle of the century, when its sheer size brought it down, after it was unable to cope with the aftermath of the Indian mutiny, possibly caused by its own practices and policies. The title of the book, Anarchy, clearly indicates the author’s position that this group was morally and economically a different type of entity from a company, but the work is far from controversial. The term “company” suggests at least some level of organization, cooperation, or community. But, as Adam Smith pointed out in his Wealth of Nations, the defining characteristics of this enterprise were personal gain, corruption, war, violence, and political intrigue, always aimed at promoting its own already monopolistic position. I underestimate.

In fact, William Dalrymple makes little use of Smith’s judgment of company activity, even though it fits perfectly with the characterization he offers. It is nothing less than a strength of his analysis that secondary sources of criticism, such as Smith’s, are largely ignored. Throughout, William Dalrymple relies on primary sources that relate directly to the company’s dealings in British politics, Indian politics, and international trade. Listing such areas of activity might suggest that an air of legitimacy surrounds this corporate presence, but rest assured this company was involved in mass murder, murder, exploitation, lost profits, deception, and the list could become a gallery of transgression offenders. . People who doubt this analysis are free to recall the opinion published by Smith in 1770 that this, the only multinational corporation in existence at the time, represented the anathema of free trade, competition, or economic health, and the epitome of corruption, deception and corruption. and this from the person who extolled the concept of free trade.

Two particular points are lodged in memory after reading this book. The first is a simple number, half. There was a time in the early 1800s when half of Britain’s wealth (then, of course, there were no GDP figures) was derived from the activity of this company. They were selling drugs to China at the time and it was lucrative, despite having to wage wars against the Chinese state to retain the right to do so. The second is the role that the company played in creating, because that may be the only word, of the Bengal famine, which was the largest famine on record in the history of India. Let us ignore the layoffs of people, double treatment and deception, along with the expected naked exploitation and personal gain, all of which also had their impact on UK politics and the economy.

Anyone who thinks this might be a dry, overly detailed, and dissected analysis of history should ignore their fears and let this book illustrate. Anarchy is a complete revelation of colonial history, the origins of wealth in our colonial societies, and the consequences for the colonies. Everyone should read it, especially those people who might admit even a residual pride in Britain’s imperial past.

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