by ANDY RUGG
Fort Fredensborg in Ghana – it had an enormous flag. SOURCE/Wikipedia
While much has been written about the famous British East India Company, few realise that the British version was one of many private European companies responsible for establishing colonies around the world. The French, Portuguese and Dutch had their own versions as did Denmark, with the Danish East India Company and Danish West India Company responsible for claiming parts of the Caribbean, India and Africa, first for profit and then for the crown.
It is a testament to the power of capitalism that private companies could actually conquer and settle whole territories. This is exactly what the East India companies and their many variants did. Even at the time, the actions of these companies caused concern to their national governments, eventually leading to their dissolution or nationalisation. The concern was well warranted. If you can imagine Nike raising its own army in order to invade Indonesia, simply to gain better trading conditions, you get an idea of what these companies did and the profits they reaped in doing so.
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