Prussian by Name, Polyglot by Nature: The Prussian East India Companies and the Opportunities and Challenges of Crossing Companies in the 18th Century

After gaining its own North-Sea port in the shape of the city of Emden in East Frisia, Prussia launched not one but two separate East Indian trading companies in the 1750s. Both were conceived and run almost entirely by foreigners. Next to only a handful of native Prussians and East Frisians, the companies’ directors and main investors were a colourful mix of Dutch, English, Flemish, Irish, and Scottish, with several Frenchmen forced to pull out at the last moment. An analysis of the sailing and commercial personnel on-board their ships bound for China and India confirms both the multinational mixture and the northern European bias, with Sweden and Denmark joining Britain, Holland and the Spanish Netherlands as the most common countries of origin. Almost all of these actors had previously worked for other European East India Companies.

The short-lived companies which had to cease operations when French forces invaded East Frisia during the Seven Years’ War thus provide a perfect case study for the opportunities and obstacles involved in crossing companies in the mid eighteenth century. On the basis of a balanced sample selection that includes company directors, commercial agents, and sailing personnel, this paper identifies five particular challenges which a nascent trading company, reliant on cross-company mobility and cooperation had to address: trust; reliable information; skills; cross-community cooperation; and the enforcement of mercantilist policies by rival nations.