无意中看了一个节目，大英帝国的诞生：东印度公司（The Birth of Empire: The East India Company）。 注意到一位现代的英国年轻记者，重访印度，追忆当年东印度公司的建立，发展，辉煌和最后的倒塌。题目很英国味，加注了，大英帝国的诞生The Birth of Empire。站在英国的角度的确如此，之后才有了对中国的鸦片贸易，香港上海银行（汇丰）的诞生，等等。没有这个巨大的贸易政治公司的开拓，后面的大英帝国是不可想象的。



里面绝大部分场景是现在的印度，特别是孟加拉，拥挤、依然破旧，依旧贫穷，但是人气很热闹，这些都是当年东印度公司驻足的地方。

还注意到一写小细节，东印度公司开始做的贸易是印度纺织业的印花布，对英国本土纺织业冲击很大；还有东印度公司组建的当地的军队等等。有时间会回头认真看一遍。

节目英文介绍说：

Dan Snow travels through India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionised the British lifestyle and laid the foundations of today's global trading systems.

400 years ago British merchants landed on the coast of India and founded a trading post to export goods to London. Over the next 200 years, their tiny business grew into a commercial titan. Using the letters and diaries of the men and women who were there, this documentary tells the story of the East India Company, which revolutionised the British lifestyle, sparked a new age of speculation and profit and by accident created one of the most powerful empires in history.

Yet inexorable rise ended in ignominy. Dogged by allegations of greed, corruption and corporate excess, by the 1770s the company's reputation was in tatters. Blamed for turning its back as millions died in the Bengal famine, and thrown into crisis by a credit crunch in Britain, the world's most powerful company had run out of cash, sparking a government intervention.

有关阅读资料：

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company

 http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/不列颠东印度公司

http://www.baike.com/wiki/东印度公司

刘仰：史上最强大的黑社会：东印度公司