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.

Impact

Based in Leadenhall Street, London, the company presided over the creation of British India. In 1717, the Company received a royal dictate from the Mughal Emperor exempting the Company from the payment of custom duties in Bengal, giving it a decided commercial advantage in the Indian trade. A decisive victory by Sir Robert Clive at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 established the British East India Company as a military as well as a commercial power. By 1760, the French were driven out of India, with the exception of a few trading posts on the coast, such as Pondicherry.

Related Topics:
Leadenhall Street - London - British India - 1717 - Mughal - Bengal - Sir Robert Clive - Battle of Plassey - 1757 - 1760

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The Company also had interests along the routes to India from Great Britain. As early as 1620, the company attempted to lay claim to the Table Mountain region in South Africa, later it occupied and ruled St Helena. The Company also established Hong Kong and Singapore; employed Captain Kidd to combat piracy; and cultivated the production of tea in India. Other notable events in the Company's history were that it held Napoleon captive on Saint Helena, and made the fortune of Elihu Yale. Its products were the basis of the Boston Tea Party in Colonial America.

Related Topics:
Great Britain - 1620 - Table Mountain - South Africa - St Helena - Hong Kong - Singapore - Captain Kidd - Piracy - Tea - India - Napoleon - Saint Helena - Elihu Yale - Boston Tea Party - Colonial America

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The East India Company's flag, with a St. George's Cross in the corner and stripes, probably inspired the Stars and Stripes (as argued by Sir Charles Fawcett in 1937). http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-eic2.html Comparisons between the Stars and Stripes and the Company's flag from historical records present some convincing arguments. The John Company flag dates back to the 1600s whereas the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes in 1777http://www.kimber.org/flag/index.htm.

Related Topics:
St. George's Cross - Stars and Stripes - Charles Fawcett - 1937 - 1777

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Its shipyards provided the model for St. Petersburg, elements of its administration survive in the Indian bureaucracy, and its corporate structure was the most successful early example of a joint stock company. However the demands of Company officers on the treasury of Bengal contributed tragically to the province's incapacity in the face of a famine which killed millions in 1770-1773.

Related Topics:
St. Petersburg - Joint stock company - Famine - 1770 - 1773

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