The history of multinational corporations is closely intertwined the
history of colonialism,
with the first multinational corporations founded to undertake colonial
expeditions at the behest of their European monarchical patrons.
[17] Prior to the era of
New Imperialism,
a majority European colonies not held by the Spanish and Portuguese
crowns were administered by chartered multinational corporations.
[18] Examples of such corporations include the
British East India Company,
[19] the
Swedish Africa Company, and the
Hudson’s Bay Company.
[20] These early corporations facilitated
colonialism by engaging in
international trade and exploration, and creating colonial
trading posts.
[21] Many of these corporations, such as the
South Australia Company and the
Virginia Company, played a direct role in formal
colonization by creating and maintaining settler
colonies.
[21]
Without exception these early corporations created differential
economic outcomes between their home country and their colonies via a
process of
exploiting colonial resources and labour, and investing the resultant
profits and net gain in the home country.
[22] The end result of this process was the enrichment of the colonizer and the impoverishment of the colonized.
[23] Some multinational corporations, such as the
Royal African Company, were also responsible for the logistical component of the
Atlantic slave trade,
[24]
maintaining the ships and ports required for this vast enterprise.
During the 19th century formal corporate rule over colonial holdings
largely gave way to state-controlled colonies,
[25][26] however corporate control over colonial economic affairs persisted in a majority of colonies.
[21][25]
During the process of
decolonization the European colonial
charter companies were disbanded,
[21] with the final colonial corporation, the
Mozambique Company, dissolving in 1972. However the economic impact of corporate colonial exploitation has proved to be lasting and far reaching,
[27] with some commentators asserting that this impact is among the chief causes of contemporary global
income inequality.
[23]
Contemporary critics of multinational corporations have charged that
some present day multinational corporations follow the pattern of
exploitation and differential wealth distribution established by the now
defunct colonial charter corporations, particularly with regards to
corporations based in the developed world that operate resource
extraction enterprises in the developing world,
[28] such as
Royal Dutch Shell, and
Barrick Gold.
Some of these critics argue that the operations of multinational
corporations in the developing world take place within the broader
context of
neocolonialism.
[29]
However, multinational corporations from emerging markets are playing
an ever-greater role, increasingly impacting the global economy.
[3
