British East India Company

The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as "John Company", was a joint-stock company of investors, which was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intent to favour trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created Honourable East India Company a monopoly on all trade in the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, until the Company's dissolution in 1858.

External links

• East India Club Gentlemen's club originally for officers and former officers of the Company, now open to others.
• Library of Congress Federal Research Division Country Studies
• History and Politics: East India Company
• English Expansionism
• Colonial Empires: Course lecture
• Nick Robins, New Statesman, 13 December 2004, "The world's first multinational"
• Karl Marx, New-York Tribune, 1853-1858, The Revolt in India