Traders: The East India Company & Asia - London
Client: National Maritime Museum

The traders Gallery tells the complex story of Britain’s relationship with the Far East, especially The Indian Sub-Continent and China, over a period of 300 years. Central to the story is the East India Company, a corporation that came to rule a continent and set the foundations of modern consumer economies and international trade.

 

The National Maritime Museum has a rich resource of objects, paintings and documents and this was used to create a series of narrative clusters that lead visitors through the interplay of ambition, cultures, conflict and imperialism. The legacies of this history continue in the lives of Britain and the countries The Company traded with and the sometimes conflicted narratives are explored from multiple perspectives using central displays as “history labs” where the voices of different groups are heard alongside the academic voice of the museum.