Was the East India Company the most powerful non-state body in history?
They were effectively an empire
>>388244
Which one? I think the Dutch one may have been even more important in its day.
no. knights templar or hansa league was.
>>388244
I would say Facebook, or Google. Their grasp extends to pretty much the entire world
>>388285
In many ways the EIC was a model of corporate efficiency: 100 years into its history, it had only 35 permanent employees in its head office. Nevertheless, that skeleton staff executed a corporate coup unparalleled in history: the military conquest, subjugation and plunder of vast tracts of southern Asia. It almost certainly remains the supreme act of corporate violence in world history.
>>388244
You could make an argument that some of the Crusading orders were more powerful, but honestly, the EIC is a damn good choice.
Here's a better question.
What went wrong?
>>388302
Lost their monopolies and shit started to go downhill.
The old trading companies are probably going to seem very similar to future space based companies, what with how far away from any governmental authority they will operate.
>>388302
They were pushed into taking a more active role in actually running their "territory", plus Christian missionaries were antagonising the locals, which was blamed on the Company
>>388834
must the spices really flow?
