Sweden's East India Company: The Global Trade That Followed Empire

In 1731, just a decade after Sweden's age as a great power ended, a new venture emerged: the Swedish East India Company. This episode follows the company's rise from its founding by traders like Henrik König and Colin Campbell to its first voyages to Canton. Lucas and Luna explore how Sweden, no longer a military empire, became a player in the global tea, porcelain, and silk trade—sailing from Gothenburg to Guangzhou and back. They discuss the famous ship Götheborg, which sank in 1745 but was later raised, the profits that funded Sweden's culture and architecture (including the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm), and the company's decline during the Napoleonic Wars. A story of ambition, risk, and the quiet riches of peacetime commerce.

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