Ostend Company

Ostend Company, trading company that operated from the Austrian Netherlands from 1722 to 1731. Founded by the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, it represented an attempt to cash in on the riches being won by the Dutch and English East India companies and stemmed from Charles VI’s awareness of the importance of foreign trade and the recent acquisition (1714) by Austria of the port of Ostend. The initial charter was to run for 30 years, and trade was to be with the East and West Indies and with Africa. In return, the imperial treasury was to receive 3 to 6 percent of the profits. At first trade flourished, two settlements being founded in India while much smuggling into England occurred. The English and Dutch, however, feared trade rivalry; and their feelings were exacerbated by Spain’s support for the venture (1725), which introduced political elements. In 1727 Charles VI, aiming for international recognition of his daughter Maria Theresa’s eventual succession, suspended the company for seven years because of opposition from France, Russia, and Prussia as well as from Britain and the United Provinces. In 1731 the Treaty of Vienna dissolved the company in return for outright recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction (Maria Theresa’s right of succession). Nevertheless, unofficial trading activities continued until 1744, when the company’s servants lost their last Indian settlement.