The Anarchy covers the rise of East India Company (EIC) from the arrival of Thomas Roe in 1608 at Surat, all the way up to the Battle of Delhi in 1803. It is a fascinating and an expansive topic. For Indian readers, it is also a somber read as we know and reflect how the next hundred odd years unfolded. EIC with its crown-blessed untrammeled monopoly rights subjugated ancient empires, appropriated massive wealth, and dovetailed the direction of a subcontinent forever.
There has never been a multinational corporation that was as powerful, as nimble, as unregulated and as successful as the East India Company. In fact, East India Company may have been the first corporation that was “too big to fail”, when it was rescued by a massive bailout in 1773, by the members of British Parliament, many of whom owned stake in EIC.
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