Page 73 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 73
The Rijeka Trading Company
not successful and it quickly fell into difficulties and was shut down
(Bronza 2016, 139–52).
A second Oriental Company was founded in Vienna at the time of
the declaration of free ports, managing branches in Trieste and in Rijeka.
Nevertheless, it too was unsuccessful: it survived just ten years and went
into administration in 1729 (Andreozzi 2017, 65–7).
The cause of the collapse of the first Austrian companies was primar-
ily the underdevelopment of the Central European economy, which was
not yet a match for the big business affairs that were being conducted in
the leading Atlantic seaports. The Austrian aristocracy knew how to gov-
ern a country, go to war, and care for its own large estates, but they did
not know how to run large production plants and overseas trade. Nor was
the middle-class ready; the small Central European “shopkeepers” were
still not up to doing business on the European market.
When business was directed towards the sea, as state politics be-
gan to encourage maritime traffic, the Dutch came to the forefront – par-
ticularly the merchants and bankers from Antwerp, Ghent, and Ostend,
where the main shareholders of the East India Company in Ostend (found-
ed in 1722 in the Austrian Netherlands) were. This was the first successful
Austrian company, also operating in Rijeka. Despite the good prospects
for the successful continuation of its work, it was abolished in 1731 due
to Imperial diplomatic concessions to the English government, who did
not want to allow the spread of Dutch and Austrian interests into India.
Nevertheless, the Company in Ostend was run by successful merchants
and bankers who developed trade with Bengal (Bankipur - Bankipore)
where the Company also had its own facilities.
During the 1730s and 40s, the Habsburgs were once again preoccu-
pied with wars rather than with the development of the economy, and
new efforts for the development of trade and business only restarted
in the middle of the century. Later companies, such as the Timişoara
Company established in 1759, operated briefly and unsuccessfully.
The last to be founded in the Austrian Littoral was the Asian or East
India Company in Trieste, which operated from 1775 to 1785. Due to the
large share of the Dutch from Antwerp (today Belgium), it was later called
the Trieste-Antwerp Asian Company. And it too, after initial successes,
ended in the failure and collapse of the leading group of investors.
The sluggish Central European Empire in the eighteenth century
was luckily not involved in the struggle for the division of colonies, in
73
not successful and it quickly fell into difficulties and was shut down
(Bronza 2016, 139–52).
A second Oriental Company was founded in Vienna at the time of
the declaration of free ports, managing branches in Trieste and in Rijeka.
Nevertheless, it too was unsuccessful: it survived just ten years and went
into administration in 1729 (Andreozzi 2017, 65–7).
The cause of the collapse of the first Austrian companies was primar-
ily the underdevelopment of the Central European economy, which was
not yet a match for the big business affairs that were being conducted in
the leading Atlantic seaports. The Austrian aristocracy knew how to gov-
ern a country, go to war, and care for its own large estates, but they did
not know how to run large production plants and overseas trade. Nor was
the middle-class ready; the small Central European “shopkeepers” were
still not up to doing business on the European market.
When business was directed towards the sea, as state politics be-
gan to encourage maritime traffic, the Dutch came to the forefront – par-
ticularly the merchants and bankers from Antwerp, Ghent, and Ostend,
where the main shareholders of the East India Company in Ostend (found-
ed in 1722 in the Austrian Netherlands) were. This was the first successful
Austrian company, also operating in Rijeka. Despite the good prospects
for the successful continuation of its work, it was abolished in 1731 due
to Imperial diplomatic concessions to the English government, who did
not want to allow the spread of Dutch and Austrian interests into India.
Nevertheless, the Company in Ostend was run by successful merchants
and bankers who developed trade with Bengal (Bankipur - Bankipore)
where the Company also had its own facilities.
During the 1730s and 40s, the Habsburgs were once again preoccu-
pied with wars rather than with the development of the economy, and
new efforts for the development of trade and business only restarted
in the middle of the century. Later companies, such as the Timişoara
Company established in 1759, operated briefly and unsuccessfully.
The last to be founded in the Austrian Littoral was the Asian or East
India Company in Trieste, which operated from 1775 to 1785. Due to the
large share of the Dutch from Antwerp (today Belgium), it was later called
the Trieste-Antwerp Asian Company. And it too, after initial successes,
ended in the failure and collapse of the leading group of investors.
The sluggish Central European Empire in the eighteenth century
was luckily not involved in the struggle for the division of colonies, in
73
