OLD COMPANYS

[Clifford Black]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company

If one is to understand history, you must learn about Business.

B.

[Adisa]

I'm strapped into the time machine and although its a bumpy ride, I'm seeing alot along the way!

This company received its charter in the 1600 from Queen Elizabeth.  Wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned shares in this company and maintained control.  Aristocrat comes from the Greek word aristokratia meaning government or rule of the best.  The company came to rule large areas of "India" with its own private armies.  I immediately thought of my days of marching in the military and the person in charge of the formation calling out "COMPANY" followed by an order.  Company mid-12c., "large group of people," from Old French compagnie "society, friendship, intimacy; body of soldiers" (12c.).  Sense of "business association" first recorded 1550s, having earlier been used in reference to trade guilds (c.1300). Meaning "subdivision of an infantry regiment" is from 1580s.  An internet search of trade guild led me to the following information:  A guild is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town.  Even the Dutch East India Company aka VOC, established in 1602, possessed multi governmental powers included the ability to wage war.  By the year 1669, the VOC was the possibly the richest European established company with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees and a private army of 10,000 soilders.   

Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada, merchants in London petitioned for a charter from Queen Elizabeth to sail to the Indian Ocean.  Following the history of trade routes in this area leads in many directions.  The Indian Ocean derived its name from the Indus and is said to have originated from the Old Persian word Hindus. The word Indus is the romanized form of the Greek word Indos.  The earliest civilization is said to have its beginnings within the Indus Valley with Sumer.  Interesting enough Sumer even has biblical connections as to it being the birthplace of Abram aka Abraham aka Ibrahim.  The Phoenicians of the late 3rd millenium BC may have even traded in this region.  Phoenicia included the area of Carthage, which has connection to those involved in the Punic Wars.  What really surprised me was the connection of this trade route to the Tea Tax aka Townshend Acts and the Boston Tea Party in the English/British colonies of North America. 

[Clifford Black]

Namaska Adisa,

You have now involved yourself in time travel, in a way that very few people will ever experience. The more you do this, over a period of time, will allow you to SEE in a way that will not be easy for you to explain to others.

B.

[Adisa]

In medieval cities, craftsmen tended to form associations based on their trades, confraternities of textile workers, masons, carpenters, carvers, glass workers, each of whom controlled secrets of traditionally imparted technology, the "arts" or "mysteries" of their crafts. Usually the founders were free independent master craftsmen who hired apprentices.^[2]

There were several types of guilds, including the two main categories of merchant guilds and craft guilds^[3] but also the frith guild and religious guild.^[4]

Not all city economies were controlled by guilds; some cities were "free." Where guilds were in control, they shaped labor, production and trade; they had strong controls over instructional capital, and the modern concepts of a lifetime progression of apprentice to craftsman, and then from journeyman eventually to widely recognized master and grandmaster began to emerge. In order to become a Master, a Journeyman would have to go on a three-year voyage called Journeyman years. 

The exclusive privilege of a guild to produce certain goods or provide certain services was similar in spirit and character with the original patent systems that surfaced in England in 1624. These systems played a role in ending the guilds' dominance, as trade secret methods were superseded by modern firms directly revealing their techniques, and counting on the state to enforce their legal monopoly.

Some guild traditions still remain in a few handicrafts, in Europe especially among shoemakers and barbers. Some ritual traditions of the guilds were conserved in order organizations such as the Freemasons, allegedly deriving from the Masons Guild, and the Oddfellows, allegedly derived from various smaller guilds. 

[Adisa]

guild (n.) also gild, early 13c., yilde (spelling later influenced by Old Norse gildi "guild, brotherhood"), a semantic fusion of Old English gegield "guild, brotherhood," and gield "service, offering; payment, tribute; compensation," from Proto-Germanic *geldjam "payment, contribution" (source also of Old Frisian geld"money," Old Saxon geld "payment, sacrifice, reward," Old High German gelt "payment, tribute;" see yield (v.)). 

freemason (n.) late 14c., originally a traveling guild of masons with a secret code; in the early 17c. they began accepting honorary members and teaching them the secrets and lore, which was continued into or revived in the 17th century and by 1717 had developed into the secret fraternity of affiliated lodges known as Free and Accepted Masons (commonly abbreviated F. and A. M.). The accepted refers to persons admitted to the society but not belonging to the craft. 

[Clifford Black]

This data, once understood, allows one to see a mountain of misconceptions and that power to see with clarity allows smooth travel and good position on the square.

B.

[Adisa]

Once I looked at this information again, I recalled a term I heard several times before but never had an idea of what was being spoke of, actors guild.  I also now notice many of the terms used in freemasonry are associated with guilds, master craftsman, traveler, apprentice, master, grand master, mason.  The question that I have now is, is it possible that a journeyman traveling along his way may needed to know a phase or give a sign to another of the same profession, or skilled trade upon entering a city to signify his position and ability to practice a trade or skill?  The additional thought I have is regarding the stories about the character Jesus who was said to be a carpenter, and is said to have traveled from town to town with is disciples (apprentices) who often referred to him as master, who would later themselves become recognized by their works.   

[Clifford Black]

How do you feel?

B.

[Adisa]

I feel like an apprentice, trying to learn as much as I can and at the same time knowing there is so much to learn yet the information is either held by others or cunningly hidden and I was never provided the skills to see what was there all the time.  

[Clifford Black]

Do you feel the power that comes from learning the skill, that allows you to teach yourself.

It makes one hear James Brown "I feel Good"

B.

[Adisa]

Yes Master that is why I am here!

[Adisa]

The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). It provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old, who were nominated by the Company's directors to writerships in its overseas civil service.

The East India Company had been incorporated in 1600 as a commercial entity. For two hundred years its administrators had been recruited, largely by patronage, to oversee commercial transactions in Asia. By 1800 they had become the de facto government for millions of people in those areas, but without much training for the role. The college was intended to address these shortcomings. In fifty years it trained over two thousand so-called "writers" to administer the Indian subcontinent.

[Adisa]

The East India Company College's curriculum was wide, detailed, and targeted to the career responsibilities. It included political economy, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, classics, law and humanity and philology. Languages included Arabic, Urdu (Hindustani), Bengali, Marathi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Persian. Among the tutors were some of the finest minds of the day, many from Oxford and Cambridge, with lavish annual salaries as much as £500.^[3]

I wonder why there are some in the U.S. who seem to have an issue with "foreigners" and their children learning what I've heard termed as "unAmerican."