I remember how angry I would get while reading history at school when I came to the parts where ruler after ruler in India literally handed over their nation’s assets and land to the East India Company by giving away the right to collect (extort?) and retain taxes (as well as protect their interests by force if necessary, by allowing them to keep standing armies) from the rich, revenue-producing provinces within their realms, all under the pretence of a royal charter, and with the extremely short term objective of rolling over some credit or in return of ‘protection’ from their enemies.
My principal grouse was that this couldn’t have been possible if these were democracies instead of little fiefdoms. I also wondered how stupid and short-sighted these leaders of people were to not have seen the middle and long term consequences of such easy solutions.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, I don’t wonder about any of that anymore.
