The Swedish East India Company (SEIC) has been traditionally seen as nothing but a peculiar and exotic adventure in Sweden's eighteenth-century history. Hence, only limited attention has been paid to the SEIC's international role, its relationship with other chartered companies, and to the development of international markets for colonial goods. The paper focuses on this unexplored chapter in the company's history. More specifically, it looks into the SEIC's re-exports of Chinese commodities to Western European markets. Although the Swedish operation was limited compared to that of the other East India companies, the SEIC was an important tea trader on the world markets. The major part of the tea imports was re-exported through merchant networks to other European countries, especially to the Austrian Netherlands and HoIland. Through illicit trade, part of the SEIC's tea went to Great Britain. The paper shows in detail how the transactions between Gothenburg, Ostend, Gent and Antwerp were organized. The examples are mainly drawn from the business correspondence of the Flemish merchants.
Neutrality in World History provides a cogent synthesis of five hundred years of neutrality in global history. Author Leos Müller argues that neutrality and neutral states, such as Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, have played an important historical role in implementing the free trade paradigm, shaping the laws of nations and humanitarianism, and serving as key global centres of trade and finance. Offering an intriguing alternative to dominant world history narratives, which hinge primarily on the international relations and policies of empires and global powers, Neutrality in World History provides students with a distinctive introduction to neutrality's place in world history.
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