The EIC's Forgotten Plague: Smallpox and the Empire of Disease

In this episode of The East India Company: The Corporation That Conquered Nations, Lucas and Luna explore how smallpox shaped Company rule in 18th-century India. They trace the arrival of variolation and Jennerian vaccination via Indian practitioners and British surgeons like John Shoolbred and William Anderson. The conversation covers the 1767 Madras outbreak that decimated the Company army, the role of Indian 'tikadars' (variolators) in rural Bengal, and the controversial 1802 Poona Vaccination Scheme that blended coercion and collaboration. Lucas explains how the Company used inoculation as both a humanitarian tool and a mechanism of control, while native resistance sparked rebellions. The episode also touches on debates over cowpox vs. variolation in the Bombay Presidency, and the global links between EIC trade routes and the spread of vaccine lymph. A nuanced look at empire, medicine, and the human cost of disease. #EastIndiaCompany #Smallpox #HistoryOfMedicine #ColonialIndia #Variolation #EdwardJenner #JohnShoolbred #WilliamAnderson #Tikadars #PoonaVaccinationScheme #MadrasOutbreak #BombayPresidency #EmpireAndDisease #18thCentury #BritishEmpire #History #FexingoHistory #VaccineHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo