On the East India Company Vocabulary of the Island of St Helena, South Atlantic, 1676-1720
Laura Wright On the East India Company Vocabulary of the Island of St Helena, South Atlantic, 1676-1720 “at this Island the Old proverb is true about setlements that where the English setle they First build a punchhouse, the Dutch a Fort, and the Portuguise a Church” St Helena Consultations, 7 April 1711 0. Introduction1 The Island of St Helena, South Atlantic, was important to the English East India Company not as a factory trading-post, nor, despite initial intentions, as a plantation, but as a victualling way-station, providing water, food and respite from the sea. In return, the islanders bought or bartered for EIC goods from ships’ captains, which goods either then went into the Company stores, or into planters’ homes. Along with the goods came the goods’ names, so that nomenclature for commodities produced in the area serviced by one factory became spread to other factories around the globe, including St Helena, en route for London. After King Charles II granted the island to the EIC in 1673, a court was set up in 1676 to regulate the island including, from time to time, receiving inventories of what was in the stores. The island’s inhabitants consisted of free planters, soldiers at the garrison, and slaves, as well as more temporary visitors such as sailors, ship’s passengers, and certain professionals such as doctors.2 The court records, known as the St Helena Consultations, were kept in duplicate and one set was sent back to the EIC in London. That set is now housed in the British Library, and the first five volumes (1676-1720) contain the evidence discussed in this chapter (the other set remains on St Helena).
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