East India Trading Company

Origins

Impact on India

The British East India Company was founded on the last day of 1600 by a royal charter, although it was originally named ‘Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’, by a group of merchants who had been given monopoly privileges by the Queen, Elizabeth I at the time. Sir Thomas Smythe, amongst the 125 shareholders was appointed as The Company’s First Governor.

The British East India Company had a long lasting Impact in India as it ruled the British Empire in India. Although starting off as a conventional corporation for trading silks and spices, this international corporation was transforming itself into an aggressive colonial power. The capital of India was Mughal and since they had many resources which the british government needed/wanted it helped them to secure a connection with a global power. Since the Dutch Indian trading company was against the British Trading company they fought over who got to trade with India. The dutch suffered many huge defeats which in turn made British the ruling power over the sea. This also let the British become powerful enough which allowed them to slowly take over the Indian economy.

LONDON

GREAT BRITAIN

Role

The British East India Company was formed by Queen Elizabeth I, to pursue profitable trade between the English and the East Indies. The Company rose to account for approximately half of the world’s trade, mainly in basic items such as, cotton, silk, salt, tea, etc. The company also had the role of ruling the British Empire in India. It also maintained a military, which was used in cases to consolidate and enforce local authority in Indian Territories.

Trade Routes

The British East India Trading Company was expanded through most of the world with hundreds of trade routes connecting many different ports of the largest most powerful countries of that time. Some of the biggest ports connected by the British East India trade routes include London, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Cape of Good Hope, Muscat, Surat and Cochin are just some of the many different ports connected by the Trading Company.

London was the headquarters of the trading company founded in the 1600’s, A century later, London’s quays were handling about 80 per cent of Britain's imports, 69 per cent of its exports, and 86 per cent of its re-exports, notably tobacco, sugar, silks and spices. Contemporaries described the Thames as a forest of masts indicating the mass amounts of merchant ships.

Another major port includes the port of Amsterdam, Amsterdam was the capital of the dutch maritime empire which at it’s height stretched from the Americas to South Africa and the East Indies, with trading posts as far afield as Japan, China, India and the Middle East. Following the victorious conclusion of the Dutch wars of independence from Spain in 1648, Amsterdam became one of Europe’s leading commercial and financial centres.

SURAT

INDIA

COCHIN

INDIA

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

AFRICA

British East India Trading Company

Established 31 December 1600