The King Who Sold His Kingdom to a Trading Company

The King Who Sold His Kingdom to a Trading Company

In 1765, a defeated Mughal emperor signed a document handing tax rights over 20 million people to a private British corporation. This single treaty transformed the East India Company from a merchant venture into a de facto government, revealing how corporate power can quietly eclipse the state.

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Show notes

The Treaty of Allahabad turned a private trading company into the legal landlord of three Indian provinces.

The East India Company replaced imported silver with local tax revenue to purchase their export goods.

A dual government system separated the right to collect taxes from the responsibility of providing justice.

By eighteen hundred, the Company maintained a private military larger than the official British army.

The Regulating Act of seventeen seventy-three established the first formal government oversight of corporate management.

Tax wealth from Bengal funded a self-sustaining cycle of military conquest across the Indian subcontinent.

In this episode
  1. 01Intro1 min
  2. 02The Tent at Allahabad2 min
  3. 03The Dual Government Illusion2 min
  4. 04From Merchants to Sovereigns3 min
  5. 05The Corporate Shell2 min
  6. 06Outro1 min
Sources
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