How a Sack of Pepper Started the World's Most Powerful Trading Empire | Sleep History | Part 1

In 1690, two Englishmen lay face down on the floor of the Mughal emperor's camp and begged his forgiveness. Their company had declared war on the richest empire on earth, and lost. Within a century, that same company would be collecting his taxes. Tonight, the first of three nights with the East India Company: its first hundred years, from a book of names passed round a London hall in 1599 to the death of the emperor Aurangzeb in 1707. Back then it was still very much a shop. Along the way: lemon juice that could have saved the Navy two centuries early, Hamlet (maybe) performed on a ship off Africa, a sea captain who became a Mughal nobleman, a man who walked to India and hung his shoes in a church, Bombay rented for ten pounds a year, the first two pounds of tea, a pirate hunter hanged twice, the college named after a sacked governor, and a diamond said to have been smuggled home in a shoe. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let the ships come in. If you enjoy tonight's story, a like or a subscribe helps the channel more than you'd think. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Merchants on the Floor 8:11 Entry Number One: Thirty Thousand Pounds, Pledged 12:55 Entry Number Two: Lemon Juice, Three Spoonfuls 19:34 Entry Number Three: One Play, Performed at Sea 23:08 Entry Number Four: One Sea Captain, Promoted to Nobleman 29:35 Entry Number Five: One Sea Fight, Watched from the Beach 35:22 Entry Number Six: One Ambassador, Unimpressed 41:28 Entry Number Seven: One Pair of Shoes 46:46 Entry Number Eight: Three Miles of Sand 53:03 Entry Number Nine: Seven Islands, Ten Pounds a Year 59:26 Entry Number Ten: Two Pounds and Two Ounces of Tea 1:02:52 Entry Number Eleven: One War, Declared on an Emperor 1:09:22 Entry Number Twelve: One Mudbank, Unloved 1:15:02 Entry Number Thirteen: One Treasure Ship, Lost 1:18:00 Entry Number Fourteen: One Privateer, Hanged Twice 1:23:07 Entry Number Fifteen: Two Companies, One Name 1:27:16 Entry Number Sixteen: One Governor, Removed 1:30:51 Entry Number