Although the Portugese established a foothold in the region, which came to include all of Asia, the Eastern fringe of Islam and the Indian Subcontinent, it was much more on the terms of local rulers than what came after it. In real terms, the Portugese are more fairly compared with earlier Meditteranian kingdoms than the capitalist Dutch who routed them. Although the profits to be gained through this East-West trade were huge, the Princes of Europe resented the flow of precious metals Eastward. The East India Companies, huge entities with the ability to annex and govern territories as well as regulate trade with them, were an ingenious solution to this problem.
The largest of these monopolies would be the British one but the Danish, Dutch and French versions all prospered at various times. We should remember "Free Trade" didn't become a "policy" of the British Government until they had broken their nearest rival, the French, and had a practically unassailable dominance in terms world trade. An interesting article: "From Trade to Colonisation: Historical Dynamics of the East India Companies" found on the South Asian history web page, notes that England's final victory in the east was not as detrimental to its competitors as it seemed and that this unified monopoly played a role in speeding up the industrialisation of both Continental powers such as Germany and rising ones such as the United States.1 To get an idea of the vast scope of these organisations and the unlimited jurisdiction awarded to them, we need only look at the scale of the Dutch enterprise in 1669 which "had 40 warships, 150 merchant ships, and 10,000 soldiers" at its disposal.2 Although pirates (often in the pay of other Companies or governments) were a serious issue, a force like this assembled for the purpose of "trade" was unheard of up until that time. But no one in Europe could argue with the returns coming in to investors, which were staggering, even by today's euphoric standard.3
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