Forex Exchange

by Katherine Pym The East India Company almost died under the reign of Cromwell. The dour religion disallowed many things. Gold and silver did not help the ‘saints’ into heaven. Calicoes from India were not allowed during the Commonwealth. Only dark and homespun woolens prevailed. Spices brought about the fall of man, so little sold in England. The East India Company was forced to trade spices for other goods in the foreign markets. Pepper traded for coral in Italy sold in India at a 90% profit. It brought the Dutchman Company, called: VOC or United East Indian Company, into power. They took advantage of England’s weakened Navy and merchant ships to increase holdings in the Far East. In Persian waters, Dutch merchant ships outnumbered the English four to one. The Dutch gained control of one port after the other. After the English Civil Wars, Cromwell went to war with the Dutch. In the South Seas a battle completely destroyed Pulo Run Island’s nutmeg industry. English me...

I would certainly not have been able to finish any of my books without my regular top-up of that quintessentrially English drink, tea. I have inherited a number of teapots from my mother much like these from Vintage Dorset , and tea drinking has always been a big part of my family life. Of course tea is not really English at all, it came first from China and later was introduced to India by the British as a way of suppliying the British Empire with a cheaper product . At the end of the 17th century almost nobody in England drank tea,  but by the end of the next century nearly everyone from King to commoner did. In 1699 six tons were imported, but by the turn of the eighteenth century eleven thousand tons were inported! The sudden enthusiasm for tea can be attributed to a number of factors - the first of which was the King's marriage to Catherine of Braganza. Her enormous dowry, suited to her position as daughter of King John IV of Portugal, included the trading posts of Tangier and...

This story, like so much of English history, begins with a love affair and ends on the chopping block. The love affair began in Holland, in 1648, where the eighteen year old Charles, Prince of Wales, was anxiously awaiting news of the trial for treason of his father, King Charles 1. The young prince, seeking a diversion from these grim matters, met a pretty girl from Wales, Lucy Walter. Like teenagers everywhere, they fell in love, with predictable results. On 9th April 1649, Lucy produced a son, whom they christened James. By then, Lucy’s prince had become a king. King Charles 1 had been executed three months before, so the baby’s father was now King Charles II – although still exiled from his kingdom. Charles liked the baby, but his love for Lucy did not last. There were plenty of other girls in Holland, after all, and he was a young king with time on his hands. Lucy died in 1658, not particularly mourned by Charles. But he was fond of young James, whom he openly acknowledged as hi...