1600 – 1874 · London → India
The British East India Company
A group of London traders got a royal paper allowing them to sail east and buy spices. Slowly, quietly, they built forts, hired soldiers, and ended up ruling most of India for a hundred years before the British Crown took over.
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The English East India Company was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600. From coastal trading posts at Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, it grew into the effective ruler of much of the subcontinent after Plassey (1757). Its private armies fought wars, collected taxes and shipped opium; the 1857 uprising forced its dissolution in 1874 and direct Crown rule (the Raj).
- ◆Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, 1600
- ◆Effective ruler after Plassey (1757)
- ◆Dissolved in 1874 after the 1857 revolt
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