DescriptionIn the early decades of the 19th century the production of opium and its illicit sale in China became a major source of John Company revenues. At the same time expenses were exceeding receipts as usual. The British government fought the two Opium Wars on behalf of the Company, which became more dependent on the government.The Europeans started coming to India by sea in the late 15th century, and started a policy of war and trade that continued until the 20th century. The Portuguese started the colonizing movement, then, in succession, the Spanish, Dutch, British, French, and some other European nations all went “Hey, what about us?” and proceeded to grab territory from people less well armed. The British East India Company was a royal charter limited liability corporation with a broad license to do act in India, as long as they paid their stipulated charges. Starting out with trading posts, then meddling in local politics, then poaching territory, the Company came to dominate the actual Mughal Empire and make the Emperor into a puppet. Then they blew it for the usual blowhard delusions of grandeur reasons and had to beg their home government to save them, which it did. That’s how Queen Victoria became Empress of India.By “Modern World Coins” we mean here, generally, the round, flat, shiny metal objects that people have used for money and still do. “Modern,” though, varies by location. There was some other way they were doing their economies, and then they switched over to “modern coins,” then they went toward paper money, now we’re all going toward digital, a future in which kids look at a coin and say “What’s that?” We’ll say: “We used to use those to buy things.” Kids will ask “How?” The main catalog reference is the Standard Catalog of World Coins, to which the KM numbers refer.
