The Ostend Company in Bengal
Summary
The article recounts the history of the Ostend Company, a trading enterprise chartered by merchants from the Austrian Netherlands (Flanders) in 1722, and its short‑lived venture in Bengal. The Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Jafar Khan, allowed the company to establish a factory at Bankibazar on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River about fifteen miles upriver from Calcutta. The company’s prosperity provoked jealousy from the Dutch and English East India Companies, leading to tensions. In 1730 the English sent Captain Gosfright with a squadron to blockade the Hooghly against the Ostenders; they captured one Ostend ship while another escaped to Bankibazar. Under pressure from the English and Dutch, Shujauddin Muhammad Khan, Murshid Quli’s successor, prohibited the Ostenders from trading in Bengal. The faujdar of Hooghly besieged their factory at Bankibazar, and the English and Dutch cooperated by stationing ships to intercept Ostend vessels. The English Council in Calcutta even paid two lakh rupees to the Nawab for his consent to seize Ostend ships. Some historians, including Stewart, believed the Ostend factory was destroyed and the company left Bengal in 1733. However, the article cites contemporary correspondence showing that Ostend ships continued to trade under licence and that the English remained anxious about them. The article notes that Monsieur de Schöneville was appointed Governor‑General of Bankibazar and hoisted the imperial flag at the factory. English and Dutch authorities held conferences to protest this act, indicating that the factory persisted into 1734. Letters from the Calcutta Council to their directors in December 1733 and January 1739 mention the Ostend factory and efforts to prevent local traders from dealing with Ostend ships. It was not until 1748, under Nawab Alivardi Khan, that the Ostenders were finally expelled from the Hooghly. By reconstructing events from archival letters, the article shows that the Ostend Company maintained a foothold in Bengal longer than previously thought. It highlights the competitive politics of European trading companies and the involvement of Indian authorities in regulating their activities. The narrative demonstrates how alliances and rivalries among European powers shaped commerce on the Hooghly river.
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Conclusion
The article concludes that the Ostend Company’s presence in Bengal was more resilient than standard histories suggest. Although British and Dutch pressure led to initial prohibitions and blockades, the company continued to operate through licensed ships and maintained its factory at Bankibazar into the mid‑1730s. The raising of the imperial flag and the appointment of a governor underscore its ambition. Only in 1748 did the Nawab Alivardi Khan expel the Ostenders. The episode illustrates the intense competition among European companies and the agency of Indian rulers in arbitrating foreign trade in eighteenth‑century Bengal.