Half-Arsed History

In this week's episode, discover how and why the British East India Company, an immensely powerful and wealthy imperial institution, came crashing down after a slow and steady decline.

This week in history we’ve got the origin of gerrymandering, the renaming of Constantinople, we’ve got the birthdays of composers and scientists and painters, and we’ve got the time the BBC convinced half of Britain that spaghetti grew on trees.

In this week's episode, hear about the phase of conquest and expansion that transformed the British East India Company into one of the largest and most powerful imperial institutions on Earth.

In this week's episode, get across how the British East India Company transformed from a purely commercial enterprise to a sovereign entity exercising colonial authority over a growing part of the Indian subcontinent.

This week in history we’ve got the death of a saint, the discovery of a planet, and the theft of half a billion dollars of art, we’ve got the birthdays of scientists and explorers, and beware the Ides of March, we’ve got the assassination of Julius Caesar.Selene's Fun Animal Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LMIgPToyL63jhxRKddc0a?si=3a181b5c586449b3

In this week's episode, hear about the early history of the English East India Company, and how it moved away from the Indonesian spice trade and instead gained a foothold on the Indian subcontinent under the Mughal Empire.

This week in history we’ve got the foundation of the French Foreign Legion and frozen food, we’ve got the birthdays of explorers and artists and activists, and we’ve got the establishment of the original and sometimes very amusing rules of the game of golf.

In this week's episode, learn about the global 16th century trading conditions that ultimately led to the formation of the East India Company, an institution that would eventually grow to effectively rule as a nation in its own right.