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Factory (trading post)

For other uses, seeFactory (disambiguation).

Factorywas the common name during themedievalandearly moderneras for anentrepôt– which was essentially an early form offree-trade zoneortransshipmentpoint. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, often known asfactors.[1]First established in Europe, factories eventually spread to many other parts of the world. The origin of the wordfactoryis fromLatinfactorium'place of doers, makers' (Portuguese:feitoria;Dutch:factorij;French:factorerie,comptoir).

DutchV.O.C.factory inHugli-Chuchura,Bengal, in 1665

The factories established by European states inAfrica,Asiaand theAmericasfrom the15th centuryonward also tended to be official politicaldependenciesof those states. These have been seen, in retrospect, as the precursors ofcolonial expansion.

A factory could serve simultaneously asmarket,warehouse,customs,defense and support tonavigationandexploration,headquarters orde factogovernment of local communities.

InNorth America,Europeans began totrade with Nativesduring the 16th century. Colonists created factories, also known astrading posts,at which furs could be traded, inNative Americanterritory.

European medieval factories

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Main trading routes of theHanseatic League
TheOostershuis,aKontorin Antwerp

Although Europeancolonialismtraces its roots from theclassical era,whenPhoenicians,GreeksandRomansestablishedcolonies of settlementaround theMediterranean– "factories" were a unique institution born inmedievalEurope.

Originally, factories were organizations of European merchants from a state, meeting in a foreign place. These organizations sought to defend their common interests, mainly economic (as well as organized insurance and protection), enabling the maintenance of diplomatic and trade relations within the foreign state where they were set.

The factories were established from 1356 onwards in the main trading centers, usually ports or central hubs that have prospered under the influence of theHanseatic Leagueand itsguildsandkontors.The Hanseatic cities had their own law system and furnished their own protection and mutual aid. The Hanseatic League maintained factories, among others, in England (Boston,King's Lynn), Norway (Tønsberg), and Finland (Åbo). Later, cities likeBrugesandAntwerpactively tried to take over the monopoly of trade from the Hansa, inviting foreign merchants to join in.

Because foreigners were not allowed to buy land in these cities, merchants joined around factories, like the Portuguese in their Bruges factory: the factor(s) and his officers rented the housing and warehouses, arbitrated trade, and even managed insurance funds, working both as an association and an embassy, even administering justice within the merchant community.[2]

Portuguesefeitorias(c. 1445)

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During the territorial and economic expansion of theAge of Discovery,the factory was adapted by thePortugueseand spread throughout from West Africa to Southeast Asia.[3]The Portuguesefeitoriaswere mostly fortified trading posts settled in coastal areas, built to centralize and thus dominate the local trade of products with the Portuguese kingdom (and thence to Europe). They served simultaneously asmarket,warehouse,support to thenavigationandcustomsand were governed by afeitor( "factor" ) responsible for managing the trade, buying and trading products on behalf of the king and collecting taxes (usually 20%).

Elmina Castlein modern-dayGhana,viewed from the sea in 1668

The first Portuguesefeitoriaoverseas was established byHenry the Navigatorin 1445 on the island ofArguin,off the coast of Mauritania. It was built to attract Muslim traders and monopolize the business in the routes traveled in North Africa. It served as a model for a chain of Africanfeitorias,Elmina Castlebeing the most notorious.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a chain of about 50Portuguese fortseither housed or protectedfeitoriasalong the coasts of West and East Africa, the Indian Ocean, China, Japan, and South America. The main factories of thePortuguese East Indies,were inGoa,Malacca,Ormuz,Ternate,Macao,and the richest possession ofBasseinthat went on to become the financial centre of India asBombay (Mumbai).They were mainly driven by the trade of gold and slaves on thecoast of Guinea,spices in the Indian Ocean, and sugar cane in the New World. They were also used for localtriangular tradebetween several territories, like Goa-Macau-Nagasaki, trading products such as sugar, pepper, coconut, timber, horses, grain, feathers from exotic Indonesian birds, precious stones, silks and porcelain from the East, among many other products. In the Indian Ocean, the trade in Portuguese factories was enforced and increased by a merchant ship licensing system: thecartazes.[4]

From thefeitorias,the products went to the main outpost in Goa, then to Portugal where they were traded in theCasa da Índia,which also managed exports to India.[5]There they were sold, or re-exported to the Royal Portuguese Factory inAntwerp,where they were distributed to the rest of Europe.

Easily supplied and defended by sea, the factories worked as independent colonial bases. They provided safety, both for the Portuguese, and at times for the territories in which they were built, protecting against constant rivalries and piracy. They allowed Portugal to dominate trade in the Atlantic and Indian oceans,establishing a vast empirewith scarce human and territorial resources. Over time, thefeitoriaswere sometimes licensed to private entrepreneurs, giving rise to some conflict between abusive private interests and local populations, such as in theMaldives.

Dutchfactorijand other European factories (1600s)

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See also:List of Dutch East India Company trading posts and settlements,List of Dutch West India Company trading posts and settlements,andList of Danish colonial trading posts and settlements
Dejimaisland inNagasakiBay, first Portuguese and then Dutch factory
Canton"Thirteen Factories",c. 1820

Other European powers began to establish factories in the 17th century along the trade routes explored by Portugal and Spain, first theDutchand then theEnglish.They went on to establish in conquered Portuguesefeitoriasand further enclaves, as they explored the coasts of Africa, Arabia, India, and South East Asia in search of the source of the lucrativespice trade.

Factories were then established bychartered companiessuch as theDutch East India Company(VOC), founded in 1602, and theDutch West India Company(WIC), founded in 1621. These factories provided for the exchange of products among European companies, local populations, and the colonies that often started as a factory with warehouses. Usually these factories had larger warehouses to fit the products resulting from the increasing agricultural development of colonies, which were boosted in theNew Worldby theAtlantic slave trade.

In these factories, the products were checked, weighed, and packaged to prepare for the long sea voyage. In particular, spices,cocoa,tea,tobacco,coffee,sugar,porcelain,andfurwere well protected against the salty sea air and against deterioration. The factor was present as the representative of the trading partners in all matters, reporting to the headquarters and being responsible for the products’ logistics (proper storage and shipping). Information took a long time to reach the company headquarters, and this was dependent on an absolute trust.

Some Dutch factories were located inCape Townin modern-day South Africa,Mochain Yemen,Calicutand theCoromandel Coastin southern India,Colomboin Sri Lanka,Ambonin Indonesia,Fort Zeelandiain Taiwan,Cantonin southern China,Dejimaisland in Japan (the only legal point of trade between Japan and the outside world during theEdo Period), andFort Orangein modern-dayUpstate New Yorkin the United States.

North American factories (1697 to 1822)

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See also:United States Government Fur Trade Factory System
York Factory,Manitoba, in 1853
The factory trading post building atFort Clarkon the left, which in turn was within a walled fort

The American factories often played a strategic role as well, sometimes operating as forts, providing a degree of protection for colonists and their allies from hostile Indians and foreign colonists.

York Factorywas founded by thecharteredHudson's Bay Companyin 1697. It was headquarters of the company for a long time, and was once thede factogovernment in parts of North America such asRupert's Land,before European-based colonies existed. It controlled thefur tradethroughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries, undertaking early exploration. Its traders and trappers forged early relationships with many groups of American Indians, and a network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in many areas of Western Canada and the United States.

The early coastal factory model contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region. When war broke out in the 1680s between France and England, the two nations regularly sent expeditions to raid and capture each other's fur trading posts. In March 1686, the French sent a raiding party under Chevalier des Troyes over 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the company's posts along James Bay. In 1697,Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville,commander of the company's captured posts, defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in theBattle of the Bayon his way tocapture York Factoryby a ruse. York Factory changed hands several times in the next decade and was finally ceded permanently in the 1713Treaty of Utrecht.After the treaty, the Hudson Bay Company rebuiltYork Factoryas a brickstar fortat the mouth of the nearbyHayes River,its present location.

The United States government sanctioned a factory system from 1796 to 1822, with factories scattered through the mostly territorial portion of the country.

The factories were officially intended to protectIndiansfrom exploitation through a series of legislation called theIndian Intercourse Acts.However, in practice, numerous tribes conceded extensive territory in exchange for the trading posts, as happened in theTreaty of Fort Clarkin which theOsage Nationceded most ofMissouriatFort Clark.

Ablacksmithwas usually assigned to the factory to repair utensils and build or maintain plows. The factories frequently also had some sort of milling operation associated with them.

The factories marked the United States' attempt to continue a process originally pioneered by theFrenchand then by theSpanishto officially license the fur trade inUpper Louisiana.

Factories were frequently called "forts"and often had numerous unofficial names. Legislation was often passed calling for militarygarrisonsat the fort but their de facto purpose was a trading post.

Examples

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In Canada, theHudson's Bay Companycreated several factories,[6]including:

In the United States factories under theSuperintendent of Indian Trade:[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Portland House, New York, 1983.
  2. ^Diogo Ramada Curto, Francisco Bethencourt, "O tempo de Vasco da Gama", DIFEL, 1998,ISBN972-8325-47-9
  3. ^Diffie 1977,pp. 314–315
  4. ^Diffie 1977,pp. 320–322
  5. ^Diffie 1977,p. 316
  6. ^Voorhis, Ernest (1930)."Historic Forts of the French Regime and of the English Trading Companies".enhaut.ca/voor1.Government of Canada.Retrieved24 April2016.
  7. ^"Preliminary Inventory (PI 163) of the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 75), Washington, D.C. Area".1965.Retrieved19 June2023.

Sources

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