The Factory “Nederland”

Abstract

In order to tackle at once the myth about the stable character of the East India trade, marked by the Company’s monopoly, the constant structure of the trade, we shall select the factory Nederland as our starting-point and investigate what commodities were carried to Europe from the East by the Company, and what the proportions were between the various products. It will be expedient for the sake of clarity to divide the variegated multitude of goods into groups and take either the cost-price value or the sales value as the standard of the proportions. By means of the cost-price value the proportions are mainly illuminated from an “investment point of view”, as in this manner we can obtain a general view of the way in which the invoices intended for Nederland were composed. The sales value, on the other hand, tells us about the capacity of the commodities carried home for being converted into cash, the sales value being identical with the auction sale turnover. It is based solely on the volume realized at the auction sales and does not consider surplus and stock. The two points of view. are not identical, although closely connected. On the long view possible essential displacements of the proportions between the groups of commodities will be registered with both standards. Together they constitute the very nerve of the activities of the Company.