Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism

Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations That Built British Colonialism by Philip J. Stern

Much of the British Imperial endeavors were carried out by private corporations. There were companies that had narrow mandates for colonial areas as well as those that covered large areas. These persisted for significant time. The concept of limited liability joint stock companies was still being developed. They had the advantage of being able to produce money by issuing stock. As they established colonies, there was a mixture of corporate and British law applied. Other countries also started to do corporate imperialism, but none did it to the scale of England. There are even remnants into modern times. (The Falkland Islands Corporation dominates the economy in the remote islands.) The book attempts to survey all the various corporations and their influence. This is a bold endeavor that ends up a bit disjointed.