The British East India Company

The British East India Company was created in 1600 to secure the lucrative South Asian spice market and to give British businessmen access to the market.

At the time it was created, there were five other European nations that were seeking to establish themselves in South Asia; Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Denmark. The company was established by royal charter on the 31st of December 1600 and it would continue to operate until the 1st of June 1874, and it would not only allow Britain to gain access to the lucrative spice markets in India but would also pave the way for the colonization of India.

British businessmen fearing that their European rivals would gain the advantage approached Queen Elizabeth I to grant them a royal charter that would allow them to travel to the subcontinent and establish trading outposts there that would enable them to purchase goods from the subcontinent, and they were prepared to invest a sizable sum to finance the venture.

The charter was duly approved and once it was granted, the businessmen, formally known as the company, approached local rulers to give them permission to set up outposts that would allow them to source for spices in the subcontinent. The Mughal Emperor Jahangir was the first to acquiesce.  

Within a short space of time, the company managed to expand its operations and in addition to procuring spices it also started procuring other commodities like tea and carpets, anything for that matter that may be of value, including minerals.

The charter allowed the company to protect its interests with the use of force and that protection was extended to any ally of the company that allowed it to source and procure items in India unhindered, and local emperors who shared good ties with the company were not only conferred monetary rewards but also enjoyed a certain degree or measure of protection from rival kings and monarchs, and this allowed the company to not only secure its interests in the subcontinent but it also enabled it to expand and soon outposts were established in various parts of the subcontinent.

In the 200 years, that followed its incorporation, the company flourished and its coffers were not only filled to the brim but it also grew in stature, and its profit driven directors began to exercise increasingly greater control of India, and were not beyond making arbitrary decisions.  

Soon, it became evident that local rulers were subservient to the company, and the wide range of powers that were conferred on the company allowed its directors to do as they pleased and this led to severe and often extreme abuses of power and in order to curb these abuses of power, the British government formally ended company rule of the subcontinent and sought direct control of India in 1874.

Copyright © 2020 by Dyarne Ward and Kathiresan Ramachanderam