Portuguese East India Shareholder Company

Abstract

Our goal is to study the Portuguese East India Company. How was it created, what was its social composition? and the rules for accepting members of the company, what goods they traded, where the trade routes stretched geographically, what ultimately led to the unsuccessful end of this company's existence.
After the Great Geographical Discoveries, trade routes shifted to the countries of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. Those states that had access to the ocean prospered economically, which is why they advanced: Promoted: Britain, France, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Holland. Joint-stock companies were established: British (1600), Dutch (1602), Danish (1616), Portuguese (1628), French (1664), Austrian (1717), Swedish (1731), which engaged in trade with the East and colonial expansion.
In August 1628, the Portuguese East India Company was established by a charter of Philip IV. It was initially established for a period of 6 years, which could be renewed for another 6 years.
The decline of the Portuguese East India Company's position in the East was due to competition from the British and Dutch East India Companies. In Portugal, the production and trade of goods did not develop in a capitalist way, as it did in Britain, so the import and export of Eastern countries fell into British hands. The company was dependent on the royal government for the transportation of goods and passengers, and for personnel changes. The company could not resolve issues independently. Government officials and private individuals were not sufficiently interested in expanding trade and colonial expansion. The main financier of the company was the royal government, and therefore the company was completely dependent on it. The differentiation of membership in the joint-stock company was established in the company in order to encourage and expand the amount of money invested. Also, any foreign merchant was freely accepted as a member of the Portuguese joint-stock company, but all this ultimately did not create the conditions for the success of the Portuguese joint-stock company. The company did not follow the rules of trade, resorted to violence and religious persecution against the locals, which caused hatred towards them and lost the company's name. The Portuguese joint-stock company received instant profits and could not become a source of permanent income, like the British and Dutch joint-stock companies
Thus The Portuguese East India Company, although it existed for a short time (1628-1650) and was ousted from the Eastern markets by such influential and wealthy companies as the British France, and Dutch East India Companies, Still, it played an important role in the development of the country's navy, the influx of Eastern goods: gold, silver, silk, cotton, porcelain, and spices, and the colonization of Eastern countries.