The Emden Company was a

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

trading company Trading companies are businesses working with different kinds of products which are sold for consumer, business, or government purposes. Trading companies buy a specialized range of products, maintain a stock or a shop, and deliver products to custo ...

which was established on 24 May 1751 to trade primarily with the city of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Its full name was the Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China (''Königlich Preußische Asiatische Compagnie in Emden nach Canton und China''), but it was generally known by the shorter name. The company was made possible by the Prussian annexation of the port of

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

in 1744. This gave the Prussians a

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

port.

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

established the company hoping to give Prussia a share of the valuable Asian trade similar to the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

or the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. There was great interest in the shares and 482 shares of 500 thaler (241,000 thaler in total) were subscribed on the day of foundation. One of the major shareholders was the banking and trading house Splitgerber & Daumin Berlin. The company had a capital of 861,000 thalers in 1752, distributed over 1,722 shares. Although the small company was very successful, never losing any of its four ships, the business was destroyed by the outbreak of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

and the occupation of

by French troops in 1757 during the Invasion of Hanover.Simms p.362 After the end of the war, Frederick dissolved the company in 1765.

References

Bibliography

Simms, Brendan. ''Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire''. Penguin Books, 2008. Suebsman, Daniel. 'Chinese porcelain shipped by the Royal Prussian Asian Company of Emden. 1753-1756', in: ''Have a Cup of Tea! Chinese Porcelain and Tea in North-West Germany'', Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden, 2015. {{Chartered companies Chartered companies Companies of Prussia Emden German companies established in 1751

See also

References

Bibliography