The 17th and 18th centuries are known for the rise of the global merchant trading empires that spread across the globe. Trade being the seizure of lands, crops, resources and assets therefore became the inevitable cause for conflicts on a much wider scale across the globe.
The opening of the 17th cent saw the beginnings of large scale trading of commodities on a global scale. In 1602 in the Netherlands, the United East India Company - Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, also known as the Dutch East India Company, was founded by Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck, who later founded the colony of Cape Town. The company was chartered with the permission of the States General of the Netherlands, to secure a 21 year monopoly of commodity trading
to work in
all the various Asian trade colonies and ports established and man some 4,785 shipping vessels of all nature in order to secure such precious commodities from Asia. By about 1720 the VOC were importing annually into Europe approximately 1.5 million lbs of coffee. the coffee houses of London and Paris offered such a roaring trade that simply enough coffee could not be delivered. Several smuggling ventures appeared at this time in the early 18th century, however smuggled coffee was only for the desperate as the quality of coffee packaging was shoddy and the worst thing that could ever happen to a London and Paris coffee house was to risk offering its customers stale coffee. VOC historical archives show that at the time of 1720 about 30% of its supply went to Paris coffee houses and the bulk majority to London establishments. However, in time, as smuggling increased and money and power corrupt, eventually the VOC went bankrupt with pilfering, siphoning and all sorts of administrative difficulties rampant. The VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, with all of its assets and debts taken over by the government of the Dutch Batavian Republic and all territories established around modern Indonesia, it's prized source of the coffee plant, eventually became the Dutch government owned Dutch East Indies. Across the Channel the introduction of coffee gave rise to mercantile interest and eyes cast upon the lucrative eastern trading routes earlier being plied by the Venetians, Spanish and Portuguese. The East India Company in England, properly known as the Honorable East India Company, was an English joint-stock company, founded December 31, 1600 by a shipping merchant John
Watts. With the accession of James I, John Watts was knighted on 26 July 1603 and subsequently become Lord Mayor of London in 1606–1607, at which time he was depicted to the king of Spain as England's "greatest pirate that has ever been in this kingdom." The company was chartered to secure Asian trading routes and establish trading posts, particularly in the East Indies in competition with the rising Dutch power, for the procurement of spices, silks, cottons, tea and coffee. However, very soon the English merchants found their trading activities restricted to the Indian subcontinent as their major hub of investment. Competition in Asia for trade in the 18th century by the European powers was sooner or later going to have to be settled by gun boat diplomacy. At this time the Dutch and the English
were increasingly coming into direct 
competition for the procurement of cotton, spice,s tea and coffee. Moreover the French were now starting to rise in the 18th century as a naval power and sought to establish their own global commodity trading activities to secure the precious commodities. In an era of fierce competition in the 18th century it soon became inevitable that ships would have to arm themselves in a display of force. Furthermore acts of sea piracy and forced plunder were on the rise as smuggling became a lucrative venture to supply the ever growing needs for coffee in the London and French markets. The armed merchant ships of the East India Company's fleet soon became armed with naval guns taken from naval ships for the sole purpose of conflict and defence. In March 1757, the 'Godolphin', 'Houghton' and 'Suffolk' fought one such skirmish near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, against a French naval ship of the line, of a typical 74 guns capability with a 26-gun frigate companion. Miraculously the East India Company vessel fought off the French in one of the first skirmishes of the 18th century. East India Company vessels were mounted with 60 guns where English and French warships - ship of the line - were now typically 74 guns with Admiral command ships as large as 2 to 4 decks of 98 to 140 guns. ships of the East Indiamen were now so lavishly produced that they came to be known as the 'Lords of the ocean'.
competition for the procurement of cotton, spice,s tea and coffee. Moreover the French were now starting to rise in the 18th century as a naval power and sought to establish their own global commodity trading activities to secure the precious commodities. In an era of fierce competition in the 18th century it soon became inevitable that ships would have to arm themselves in a display of force. Furthermore acts of sea piracy and forced plunder were on the rise as smuggling became a lucrative venture to supply the ever growing needs for coffee in the London and French markets. The armed merchant ships of the East India Company's fleet soon became armed with naval guns taken from naval ships for the sole purpose of conflict and defence. In March 1757, the 'Godolphin', 'Houghton' and 'Suffolk' fought one such skirmish near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, against a French naval ship of the line, of a typical 74 guns capability with a 26-gun frigate companion. Miraculously the East India Company vessel fought off the French in one of the first skirmishes of the 18th century. East India Company vessels were mounted with 60 guns where English and French warships - ship of the line - were now typically 74 guns with Admiral command ships as large as 2 to 4 decks of 98 to 140 guns. ships of the East Indiamen were now so lavishly produced that they came to be known as the 'Lords of the ocean'.
London in the 18th
century was now booming. It's mercantile aspirations were spread across
the far corners of the globe from China to India to the Middle east to
the West Indies. The first formal exchange for the trading of commodities grew out of the congregation of men within the confines of 
London's coffee houses. In the 17th century London coffee houses became the perfect venue for coffee, spice and metals traders to meet; to gossip on trade news, discuss arriving vessels and cargoes and ultimately to deliberate upon prices using a ring drawn in chalk on
the floor as a trading area for serious buyers and sellers to step in and haggle a business deal with any body who cares to step inside the ring to buy or sell his commodity. By the time of the 18th century,in
the era of European revolution, men's ideas of Liberalism were born
amidst he discussions and debates that arose within the confines of the
London coffee houses. Political ideas were mooted, economic issues were
discussed and new ideas for business ventures were considered. It is interesting to note that the world's biggest insurer Lloyds of London actually started out as a coffeehouse on Tower Street in 1688 where trading of coffee cargoes eventually led to the need to insure cargoes.
The first man to bring coffee to America was Captain John Smith, who founded the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in 1607. Although the Dutch were already trading coffee extensively by this time they did not commercially introduce coffee drinking to America when the Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan Island in 1624 and made a settlement there. This settlement in modern New York was originally named New Amsterdam, and under Dutch occupancy from 1624–64 it is said that the first social gatherings of coffee drinking were in private. By 1670 the trade and supply of coffee is first mentioned in official records with William Penn recording the purchase of coffee beans at the rate of eighteen shillings and nine pence per pound. The first coffee houses thus appeared in new England at the latter part of the 17tth century but often were just regular taverns and inns where liqueurs were also sold. The first coffee houses of note were founded in the latter 17th century in Boston; London Coffee House and the Gutteridge Coffee House being the two most prominent and Royal Exchange mentioned in official records in 1711.
If anything The Dutch were very eager to spread their trading networks to secure wider sales across the world. From the first green houses organized in Amsterdam in 1706 plants and cuttings were given away to visiting dignitaries from around the world. it is said that the the Burgomaster of Amsterdam gave one such plant as a gift to King Louis XIV of France in 1714. This plant was quickly housed in in le Jardin des Plantes in Paris. There then followed quite a
story and adventure involving a young French naval officer. In 1723 a young French naval officer by the name of Gabriel de
Clieu returned home to Paris on leave from his post at Martinique and upon hearing of the coffee plants requested a cutting from the King. Having been refused the young officer broke into le Jardin des Plantes at night, stole a plant cutting and took it to the the
Caribbean. The return to Martinique became quite an adventure as pirates and storms could not thwart him, though the glass cabinet was shattered and the plant was fed on the young officer's own water rations. Two years later, after successful planting and cultivation, coffee plantations were spreading all
over Martinique and the neighboring islands of St. Dominique and
Guadeloupe. Indeed, the spread of coffee plantations became so successful in the french colonies in the Caribbean that the French King eventually forgave the young officer and even made him Governor of Antilles. In 1727 the Brazilian government became so jealous that they sent agents to try to steal coffee cuttings. Brazil sent their own Lieutenant Colonel
Francisco de Mello Palheta on a mission to steal such a coffee plant from the
French. Palheta then became friends of the wife of the governor
of French Guiana, who then presented Palheta with a farewell gift, being a coffee cutting hidden in a bouquet of flowers. Thus from a single cutting did the world's largest
coffee grower grow.
In a world of international trade and financial intrigue it is perhaps most surprising that the English could not gain a serious foothold in the coffee market and compete in the global coffee trade until 1796 when they finally took control of the kingdom of Ceylon, or modern Sri Lanka, from the Dutch. The Dutch coffee plantations were usurped and more land was cleared to
expand their new footing in the coffee cultivation business. For a brief moment in time the British colony Ceylon became the largest grower of coffee. But in 1869, a lethal fungus known as coffee rust had arrived on the island, thus effectively reducing the output of the tiny island nation. The British did try to spread coffee cultivation in the Caribbean in Jamaica and in Africa, Uganda and Kenya, but by the end of the 19th Century coffee was becoming a market where no one nation could control the trade flow. The United States was now developing commercial coffee for shops and drug stores and also coffee was coming under fierce competion by tea and hot chocolate as the most popular social beverage in England. Eventually the domination of the coffee planting world came to rest with Latin America with the dawn of the 20th century and with the United States in close proximity it would only be a matter of time before coffee truly become a product sold by many market participants.
Read all about coffee consumption in the industrial and modern age next ... http://thegenteelworldofcoffee.blogspot.com/2015/03/history-part-5-coffee-trading-in-modern.html
Reflections upon the coffee story - Pieter Bergli- cafe enthusiast
London's coffee houses. In the 17th century London coffee houses became the perfect venue for coffee, spice and metals traders to meet; to gossip on trade news, discuss arriving vessels and cargoes and ultimately to deliberate upon prices using a ring drawn in chalk on
the floor as a trading area for serious buyers and sellers to step in and haggle a business deal with any body who cares to step inside the ring to buy or sell his commodity. By the time of the 18th century,in
the era of European revolution, men's ideas of Liberalism were born
amidst he discussions and debates that arose within the confines of the
London coffee houses. Political ideas were mooted, economic issues were
discussed and new ideas for business ventures were considered. It is interesting to note that the world's biggest insurer Lloyds of London actually started out as a coffeehouse on Tower Street in 1688 where trading of coffee cargoes eventually led to the need to insure cargoes.The first man to bring coffee to America was Captain John Smith, who founded the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in 1607. Although the Dutch were already trading coffee extensively by this time they did not commercially introduce coffee drinking to America when the Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan Island in 1624 and made a settlement there. This settlement in modern New York was originally named New Amsterdam, and under Dutch occupancy from 1624–64 it is said that the first social gatherings of coffee drinking were in private. By 1670 the trade and supply of coffee is first mentioned in official records with William Penn recording the purchase of coffee beans at the rate of eighteen shillings and nine pence per pound. The first coffee houses thus appeared in new England at the latter part of the 17tth century but often were just regular taverns and inns where liqueurs were also sold. The first coffee houses of note were founded in the latter 17th century in Boston; London Coffee House and the Gutteridge Coffee House being the two most prominent and Royal Exchange mentioned in official records in 1711.
If anything The Dutch were very eager to spread their trading networks to secure wider sales across the world. From the first green houses organized in Amsterdam in 1706 plants and cuttings were given away to visiting dignitaries from around the world. it is said that the the Burgomaster of Amsterdam gave one such plant as a gift to King Louis XIV of France in 1714. This plant was quickly housed in in le Jardin des Plantes in Paris. There then followed quite a
In a world of international trade and financial intrigue it is perhaps most surprising that the English could not gain a serious foothold in the coffee market and compete in the global coffee trade until 1796 when they finally took control of the kingdom of Ceylon, or modern Sri Lanka, from the Dutch. The Dutch coffee plantations were usurped and more land was cleared to
expand their new footing in the coffee cultivation business. For a brief moment in time the British colony Ceylon became the largest grower of coffee. But in 1869, a lethal fungus known as coffee rust had arrived on the island, thus effectively reducing the output of the tiny island nation. The British did try to spread coffee cultivation in the Caribbean in Jamaica and in Africa, Uganda and Kenya, but by the end of the 19th Century coffee was becoming a market where no one nation could control the trade flow. The United States was now developing commercial coffee for shops and drug stores and also coffee was coming under fierce competion by tea and hot chocolate as the most popular social beverage in England. Eventually the domination of the coffee planting world came to rest with Latin America with the dawn of the 20th century and with the United States in close proximity it would only be a matter of time before coffee truly become a product sold by many market participants.Read all about coffee consumption in the industrial and modern age next ... http://thegenteelworldofcoffee.blogspot.com/2015/03/history-part-5-coffee-trading-in-modern.html
Reflections upon the coffee story - Pieter Bergli- cafe enthusiast
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