Description
Aprons in Asia by Godfrey Moore
The spread of Freemasonry across Asia differs somewhat from that of North America. Only in the early 1800s do we see a significant number of lodges opening, mainly in India and what was then called the Dutch East Indies. With the exception of one Asian country, they were driven by the expansion of hungry trading companies and colonial powers, not by republican causes.
The first Freemasons to arrive in Asia were employees of the East India Company. This historic company was formed by Royal Charter on 30th December 1600. Governed by a Court of Directors in London, it was granted a monopoly on trade around the East Indies (lands around the Indian Ocean and extending into what is now Indonesia). The British wanted a share in the spices coming from that long archipelago and in the exotic merchandise originating in India and China, a trade long dominated by the Portuguese and Dutch. The East India Company grew into a powerful, transnational corporation with its own army, large merchant fleet, and countless administrators.
The company was a ruthless capitalist enterprise, but many of the passengers who endured the dangerous, uncomfortable voyages to disease ridden trading posts had pledged to uphold traditional values and virtues. These were the men in aprons, and this is their story. However, I have not shied away from revealing the shortcomings of a few early Freemasons, Masonic bodies, or colonial powers. The tremendous contributions made by my predecessors in Asia have also been highlighted.
