Editing East India Company (section)

==History {{anchor|East India Company Act 1776|East India Company Act 1806}}==

=== Formation ===
In 1599, a group of prominent merchants and explorers met to discuss a potential East Indies venture under a [[royal charter]].<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|1–2}} Besides Fitch and Lancaster,<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|5}} the group included [[Stephen Soame]], then [[Lord Mayor of London]]; [[Thomas Smythe]], a powerful London politician and administrator who had established the [[Levant Company]]; [[Richard Hakluyt]], writer and proponent of [[British colonization of the Americas|English colonisation of the Americas]]; and several other sea-farers who had served with Drake and Raleigh.<ref name="Anarchy"/>{{rp|1–2}}

On 22 September, the group stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper)" and to themselves invest £30,133 (over £4,000,000 in today's money).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilbur |first=Marguerite Eyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTCsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA18 |title=The East India Company: And the British Empire in the Far East |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1945 |location=Stanford, Cal. |page=18 |access-date=31 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530230720/https://books.google.com/books?id=HTCsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA18 |archive-date=30 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="british-history.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68624|title=East Indies: September 1599|website=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=19 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119094335/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68624|url-status=live}}</ref> Two days later, the "Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project.<ref name="british-history.ac.uk" /> Although their first attempt had not been completely successful, they sought the Queen's unofficial approval to continue. They bought ships for the venture and increased their investment to £68,373.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

They convened again a year later, on 31 December 1600, and this time they succeeded; the Queen responded favourably to a petition by [[George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland|George, Earl of Cumberland]] and 218 others,<ref>{{cite book |title=United Service Magazine - and Naval and Military Journal (1875 - Part III) |date=1875 |publisher=Hursett and Blackett |location=London |page=148 (History of the Indian Navy) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-IRAAAAYAAJ |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref> including James Lancaster, [[John Harte (mayor)|Sir John Harte]], [[John Spencer (Lord Mayor of London)|Sir John Spencer]] (both of whom had been [[Lord Mayor of London]]), the adventurer [[Edward Michelborne]], the nobleman [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire|William Cavendish]] and other [[aldermen]] and citizens.<ref name="EIC-Charters">{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John |title=Charters Relating to the East India Company - From 1600 to 1761 |date=1887 |publisher=R. Hill, Government of Madras (British India) |location=Chennai |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3t0TAAAAQAAJ |access-date=29 May 2022 |ref=EIC-Charters}}</ref> She granted her charter to their corporation named '''Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies'''.<ref name="igi-ii-p454" /> For a period of fifteen years, the charter awarded the company a monopoly<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/imperialgazette01meyegoog/page/n501/mode/1up?q=fifteen|title=The Imperial Gazetteer of India|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1908|volume=II: The Indian Empire, Historical|location=Oxford|page=455}}</ref> on English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the [[Straits of Magellan]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=East India Company}}</ref> Any traders there without a licence from the company were liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo (half of which would go to the Crown and half to the company), as well as imprisonment at the "royal pleasure".<ref>{{Cite book|title=A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels|first=Robert|last=Kerr|author-link=Robert Kerr (writer)|volume=8|year=1813|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=tCwwAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&pg=GBS.PA102|page=102|publisher=W. Blackwood|access-date=3 October 2018|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225153802/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=tCwwAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&pg=GBS.PA102|url-status=live}}</ref>

The charter named Thomas Smythe as the first governor<ref name="EIC-Charters"/>{{rp|3}} of the company, and 24 [[British East India Company directors|directors]] (including James Lancaster)<ref name="EIC-Charters"/>{{rp|4}} or "committees", who made up a Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to a Court of Proprietors, who appointed them. Ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. By tradition, business was initially transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite [[St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate|St Botolph's]] church in [[Bishopsgate]], before moving to East India House on [[Leadenhall Street]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Timbs|author-link=John Timbs|title=Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis|url=https://archive.org/details/curiositieslond01timbgoog|year=1855|publisher=D. Bogue|page=[https://archive.org/details/curiositieslond01timbgoog/page/n279 264]}}</ref>

=== Early voyages to the East Indies ===
[[Sir James Lancaster]] commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601 aboard {{ship||Red Dragon|1595|2}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gardner |first=Brian |year=1990 |orig-year=1971 |title=The East India Company: A History |url=https://archive.org/details/eastindiacompany00gard|url-access=registration |publisher=Dorset Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/eastindiacompany00gard/page/23 23]–24 |isbn=978-0-88029-530-7}}</ref> The following year, whilst sailing in the [[Malacca Strait]]s, Lancaster took the rich 1,200 ton Portuguese carrack ''Sao Thome'' carrying pepper and spices. The booty enabled the voyagers to set up two "[[Factory (trading post)|factories]]" (trading posts) – one at [[Bantam (city)|Bantam]] on [[Java]] and another in the [[Molucca]]s (Spice Islands) before leaving.<ref name="Dulles106">{{Cite book |author=Dulles, Foster Rhea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlsf8tQYLroC |title=Eastward ho! The first English adventurers to the Orient |publisher=Books for Libraries Press |year=1931 |edition=1969 |place=Freeport, New York |page=106 |access-date=17 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416084711/https://books.google.com/books?id=wlsf8tQYLroC |archive-date=16 April 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> On return to England in 1603, they learned of Elizabeth's death, but Lancaster was knighted by the new king, [[James VI and I|James I]], on account of the voyage's success.<ref>{{Cite book|title=England's quest of eastern trade|author=Foster, Sir William|edition=1933|publisher=A. & C. Black|place=London|page=157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gp6wBJx0-igC&pg=PA154|isbn=9780415155182|year=1998|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727133852/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gp6wBJx0-igC&pg=PA154|url-status=live}}</ref> By this time, the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|war with Spain]] had ended but the company had profitably breached the Spanish-Portuguese duopoly; new horizons opened for the English.<ref name="Wernham" />

In March 1604, Sir [[Henry Middleton (captain)|Henry Middleton]] commanded the company's [[Second voyage to Asia|second voyage]]. General [[William Keeling]], a captain during the second voyage, led the third voyage aboard ''Red Dragon'' from 1607 to 1610 along with ''Hector'' under Captain [[Sir William Hawkins|William Hawkins]] and ''Consent'' under Captain [[David Middleton (mariner)|David Middleton]].<ref name="East India Company 1897 vi">{{Cite book|author=East India Company|author-link=East India Company|title=List of Factory Records of the late East India Company: preserved in the Record Department of the India Office, London |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023223757|year=1897|page=vi}}</ref>

Early in 1608, [[Alexander Sharpeigh]] was made captain of the company's ''Ascension'', and general or commander of the fourth voyage. Thereafter two ships, ''Ascension'' and ''Union'' (captained by Richard Rowles), sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1608.<ref name="East India Company 1897 vi" /> This expedition was lost.<ref name="Mill1817" />
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="border:1px black; float:center; margin-left:1em;"
|+ East India Company Initial expeditions<ref name="Mill1817">{{cite book|author=James Mill|title=The History of British India|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ncIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA481|access-date=30 July 2018|year=1817|publisher=Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy|pages=15–18|chapter=1|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727133629/https://books.google.com/books?id=1ncIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA481|url-status=live}}</ref>
! Year !! Vessels !! Total Invested £ !! Bullion sent £!! Goods sent £!! Ships & Provisions £ !! Notes
|-
| 1603 || 3 || '''60,450''' || 11,160 || 1,142 || 48,140 ||
|-
| 1606 || 3 || '''58,500''' || 17,600 || 7,280 || 28,620 ||
|-
| 1607 || 2 || '''38,000''' || 15,000 || 3,400 || 14,600 || Vessels lost
|-
| 1608 || 1 || '''13,700''' || 6,000 || 1,700 || 6,000 ||
|-
| 1609 || 3 || '''82,000''' || 28,500 || 21,300 || 32,000 ||
|-
| 1610 || 4 || '''71,581''' || 19,200 || 10,081 || 42,500 ||
|-
| 1611 || 4 || '''76,355''' || 17,675 || 10,000 || 48,700 ||
|-
| 1612 || 1 || '''7,200''' || 1,250 || 650 || 5,300 ||
|-
| 1613 || 8 || rowspan="4" | '''272,544''' || 18,810 || 12,446 || ||
|-
| 1614 || 8 || 13,942 || 23,000 || ||
|-
| 1615 || 6 || 26,660 || 26,065 || ||
|-
| 1616 || 7 || 52,087 || 16,506 || ||
|}

Initially, the company struggled in the [[spice trade]] because of competition from the [[Dutch East India Company]]. This rivalry led to military skirmishes, with each company establishing fortified trading posts, fleets, and alliances with local rulers. The Dutch, better financed and supported by their government, gained the upper hand by establishing a stronghold in the spice islands (now Indonesia), enforcing a near-monopoly through aggressive policies that eventually drove the EIC to seek trade opportunities in India instead. The English company opened a [[Factory (trading post)|factory]] (trading post) in [[Banten (town)|Bantam]] on Java on its first voyage, and imports of [[Black pepper|pepper]] from Java remained an important part of the company's trade for twenty years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rivalry Between English and Dutch East India Companies {{!}} World History Commons |url=https://worldhistorycommons.org/rivalry-between-english-and-dutch-east-india-companies#:~:text=The%20two%20companies%20were,%20from,for%20the%20Amboyna%20conspiracy%20trial. |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=worldhistorycommons.org}}</ref>

[[File:Reddragonship.jpg|thumb|{{ship||Red Dragon|1595|2}} fought the Portuguese at the [[Battle of Swally]] in 1612, and made several voyages to the [[East Indies]]]]
[[File:Jahangir investing a courtier with a robe of honour watched by Sir Thomas Roe, English ambassador to the court of Jahangir at Agra from 1615-18, and others.jpg|thumb|275px|The emperor [[Jahangir]] investing a courtier with a robe of honour, watched by [[Sir Thomas Roe]], English ambassador to the court of Jahangir at Agra from 1615 to 1618, and others]]

English traders frequently fought their Dutch and Portuguese counterparts in the Indian Ocean. The company achieved a major victory over the Portuguese in the [[Battle of Swally]] in 1612, at [[Suvali]] in [[Surat]]. The company decided to explore the feasibility of a foothold in mainland India, with official sanction from both Britain and the [[Mughal Empire]], and requested that the Crown launch a diplomatic mission.<ref name="fordham1">The battle of Plassey ended the tax on the Indian goods. {{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/1617englandindies.html|title=Indian History Sourcebook: England, India, and The East Indies, 1617 CE|publisher=Fordham University|access-date=5 May 2004|archive-date=18 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818010509/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/1617englandindies.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Foothold in India ====
{{See also|History of Kolkata#Establishment of English trade in Bengal (1610–1900)|label 1=Establishment of English trade in Bengal (1610–1900)}}

Company ships docked at [[Surat]] in [[Gujarat under Mughal Empire|Gujarat]] in 1608.<ref name="Tracy">{{cite book|last=Tracy|first=James D.|author-link=James Tracy (historian)|chapter=Dutch and English Trade to the East|series=[[The Cambridge World History]]|volume=6|title=The Construction of a Global World, 1400–1800 CE, Part 2, Patterns of Change|editor1-last=Bentley|editor1-first=Jerry|editor1-link=Jerry H. Bentley|editor2-last=Subrahmanyam|editor2-first=Sanjay|editor2-link=Sanjay Subrahmanyam|editor3-first=Merry|editor3-last=Wiesner-Hanks|editor3-link=Merry Wiesner-Hanks |location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780521192460|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJtrCgAAQBAJ|page=249|quote="In 1608 an EIC ship called at Surat, the main port of Gujarat, and a good place to obtain the Gujarati cottons that had an established market in the Moluccas. But the English were not allowed to establish a factory here until 1615..."}}</ref> The company's first Indian factory was established in 1611 at [[Machilipatnam|Masulipatnam]] on the [[Coastal Andhra|Andhra Coast]] of the [[Bay of Bengal]], and its second in 1615 at Surat.<ref>Keay 1993, pp. 61, 67: "By late August 1611 [the Company's] factors were ashore at Petapoli and Masulipatnam ... the factory established at Masulipatnam survived and continued to supply the eastern market and to look for new maritime outlets."</ref><ref name="Tracy"/> The high profits reported by the company after landing in India initially prompted James I to grant subsidiary licences to other trading companies in England. However, in 1609, he renewed the East India Company's charter for an indefinite period, with the proviso that its privileges would be annulled if trade was unprofitable for three consecutive years.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In 1615, James I instructed Sir [[Thomas Roe]] to visit the Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim [[Jahangir]] (r.&nbsp;1605–1627) to arrange for a commercial treaty that would give the company exclusive rights to reside and establish factories in Surat and other areas. In return, the company offered to provide the Emperor with goods and rarities from the European market. This mission was highly successful, and Jahangir sent a letter to James through Sir Thomas Roe:<ref name="fordham1" />

{{blockquote|Upon which assurance of your royal love I have given my general command to all the kingdoms and ports of my dominions to receive all the merchants of the English nation as the subjects of my friend; that in what place soever they choose to live, they may have free liberty without any restraint; and at what port soever they shall arrive, that neither Portugal nor any other shall dare to molest their quiet; and in what city soever they shall have residence, I have commanded all my governors and captains to give them freedom answerable to their own desires; to sell, buy, and to transport into their country at their pleasure.

For confirmation of our love and friendship, I desire your Majesty to command your merchants to bring in their ships of all sorts of rarities and rich goods fit for my palace; and that you be pleased to send me your royal letters by every opportunity, that I may rejoice in your health and prosperous affairs; that our friendship may be interchanged and eternal.|Nuruddin Salim Jahangir|Letter to James I.}}

==== Expansion in present day South Asia ====
{{see also|List of Anglo-Indian wars}}
The company, which benefited from the imperial patronage, soon expanded its commercial trading operations. It eclipsed the Portuguese [[Estado da Índia]], which had established bases in [[Goa]], [[Chittagong]], and [[Bombay]]; Portugal later ceded Bombay to England as part of the [[dowry]] of [[Catherine of Braganza]] on her marriage to King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. The East India Company also launched a joint attack with the Dutch [[United East India Company]] (VOC) on Portuguese and Spanish ships off the coast of China that helped secure EIC ports in China,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Gabriel Tatton's Maritime Atlas of the East Indies, 1620–1621: Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum, Admiralty Library Manuscript, MSS 352 |first=Sarah |last=Tyacke |author-link=Sarah Tyacke |journal=Imago Mundi |volume=60 |issue=1 |year=2008 |pages=39–62 |doi=10.1080/03085690701669293|s2cid=162239597 | issn = 0308-5694 }}</ref> independently attacking the Portuguese in the [[Persian Gulf Residency|Persian Gulf Residencies]] primarily for political reasons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chaudhuri |first=K. N. |year=1999 |title=The English East India Company: The Study of an Early Joint-stock Company 1600-1640 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dyn3oh06ue8C&pg=PA64 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780415190763}}</ref> The company established [[trading post]]s in [[Surat]] (1619) and [[Chennai|Madras]] (1639).<ref name="Cadell1956">{{cite journal |last1=Cadell |first1=Patrick |title=The Raising of the British Indian Army |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |date=1956 |volume=34 |issue=139 |pages=96, 98 |jstor=44226533}}</ref> By 1647, the company had 23 factories and settlements in India, and 90 employees.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodruff |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Mason |year=1954 |title=The Men Who Ruled India: The Founders |url=https://archive.org/details/menwhoruledindia0001unse/page/55/mode/1up |volume=1 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=55}}</ref> Many of the major factories became some of the most populated and commercially influential cities in Bengal, including the walled forts of [[Fort William, India|Fort William]] in Bengal, [[Fort St George]] in Madras, and [[Bombay Castle]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The first century of the Company, despite its original profits coming primarily from piracy in the [[Maluku Islands|Spice Islands]] between competing European powers and their companies,<ref name="Dalrymple2019">{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William |title=The anarchy: the relentless rise of the East India Company |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-63557-433-3 |location=London (GB)}}</ref> saw the East India Company change focus after suffering a major setback in 1623 when their factory in [[Amboyna massacre|Amboyna]] in the Moluccas was attacked by the Dutch. This compelled the company to formally abandon their efforts in the Spice Islands, and turn their attention to Bengal where, by this time, they were making steady, if less exciting, profits.<ref name="Dalrymple2019"/> After gaining the indifferent patronage of the [[Mughal Empire]], whose cities were 'the megacities of their time' and whose wealth was unrivaled outside of Asia in the 17th century,<ref name="Dalrymple2019"/> the Company's first century in the Mughal-ruled areas was spent cultivating their relationship with the Mughal Dynasty, and conducting peaceful trade at great profit. At first it should be said the EIC was drawn into the Mughal system, acting as a kind of vassal to Mughal authority in present-day Bangladesh: it was from this position that the Company would ultimately outplay and outmanoeuvre all competing powers in the region, to eventually use that very system to hold power itself.<ref name="Dalrymple2019"/> What started as trading posts on undesirable land were developed into sprawling factory complexes with hundreds of workers sending exotic goods to England and managing protected points to export English finished goods to local merchants. The Company's initial rise in Bengal and successes generally came at the expense of competing European powers through the art of currying favours and well-placed bribes, as the Company was matched at every step with French expansion in the region (whose [[Louis XIV's East India Company|equivalent company]] carried substantial royal support). Throughout the entire century the company only resorted to force against the Mughals once, with terrible consequences.<ref name="Dalrymple2019"/> The [[Anglo-Mughal war (1686–1690)]] was a complete defeat, ending when the EIC effectively swore fealty to the Mughals to get their factories back.

The East India Company's fortunes changed for the better in 1707 when Bengal and other regions under Mughal rule fell into anarchy after the death of the Mughal Emperor [[Aurangzeb]].<ref name="Dalrymple2019"/> A series of large-scale rebellions, and the collapse of the Mughal taxation system led to the effective independence of virtually all of the pre-1707 Mughal fiefs and holdings, with their capital Delhi routinely under the control of Maratha, Afghan, or usurper generals' armies. The EIC was able to take advantage of this chaos, slowly assuming direct control of the province of [[Bengal]], and fighting [[Carnatic wars|numerous wars against the French]] for control of the east coast of the subcontinent. The Company's position in the Mughal court as it fell apart made it possible to sponsor various powerful people on the subcontinent as they individually contended with others, steadily amassing more land and power in India to themselves.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In the 18th Century, the primary source of the Company's profits in Bengal became taxation in conquered and controlled provinces, as the factories became fortresses and administrative hubs for networks of tax collectors that expanded into enormous cities. The Mughal Empire was the richest in the world in 1700, and the East India Company tried to strip it bare for a century thereafter. Dalrymple calls it "the single largest transfer of wealth until the Nazis."<ref name="Dalrymple2019" /> What was in the 17th century the production capital of the world for textiles was forced to become a market for British-made textiles. Statues, jewels, and various other valuables were moved from the palaces of Bengal to the townhouses of the English countryside. Bengal in particular suffered the worst of Company tax farming, highlighted by the [[Great Bengal famine of 1770]].<ref name="Dalrymple2019" />

The primary tool of expansion for the company was the Sepoy. The [[Sepoy]]s were locally raised with European training and equipment, who changed warfare in present-day South Asia. Mounted forces and their superior mobility had been king on the region's battlefields for a thousand years, with cannon so well integrated that the Mughals fought with cannon mounted on elephants; all were no match to line infantry with decent discipline supported with field cannon. Repeatedly, a few thousand company sepoys fought vastly larger Mughal forces numerically and came out victorious. Afghan, Mughal and Maratha factions started creating their own European-style forces, often with French equipment, as the chaos intensified and the stakes were raised. Ultimately, the company won out, generally through as much diplomacy and state-craft as through fraud and deception. The gradual rise of the East India Company within the Mughal network culminated in the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War]], in which the Company successfully ousted the Maratha, the Empire's official protectors, at the high water point in their rise to power, and installed a young Mughal Prince as Emperor, with the Company as the de jure protectors of the Empire from their position of direct control in Bengal. This relationship was repeatedly strained as the Company continued its expansion and exploitation, however it lasted in some form until 1858, when the last Mughal Emperor was exiled as the Company was disbanded and its assets were taken over by the British Crown.<ref name="Dalrymple2019" />

In 1634, the Mughal emperor [[Shah Jahan]] extended his hospitality to English traders to [[Bengal]], the richest region of the empire,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/east-india-company-sent-a-diplomat-to-jahangir-all-the-mughal-emperor-cared-about-was-beer/281255/|title=East India Company sent a diplomat to Jahangir & all the Mughal Emperor cared about was beer|first=William|last=Dalrymple|website=[[ThePrint]] |date=24 August 2019|access-date=24 August 2019|archive-date=24 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824144031/https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/east-india-company-sent-a-diplomat-to-jahangir-all-the-mughal-emperor-cared-about-was-beer/281255/|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1717 customs duties were completely waived for the English in Bengal. By then, the Company's mainstay businesses were in cotton, silk, opium, [[indigo dye]], [[Potassium nitrate|saltpetre]] and tea. Meanwhile, the Dutch, the Company's most aggressive competitors, had expanded their monopoly of the spice trade in the [[Straits of Malacca]] by ousting the Portuguese in 1640–1641. With reduced Portuguese and Spanish influence in the region, the EIC and VOC entered a period of intense competition, resulting in the [[Anglo-Dutch wars]] of the 17th and 18th centuries. The British were also interested in trans-Himalayan trade routes, as they would create access to untapped markets for British manufactured goods in Tibet and China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=English |first=Richard |date=1985 |title=Himalayan State Formation and the Impact of British Rule in the Nineteenth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3673223 |journal=Mountain Research and Development |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=61–78 |doi=10.2307/3673223 |jstor=3673223 |issn=0276-4741}}</ref> This economic interest was showcased by the [[Anglo-Nepalese war|Anglo-Nepalese war (1814–1816).]]

==== Expansion throughout Asia ====
Within the first two decades of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company or ''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'', (VOC) was the wealthiest commercial operation in the world with 50,000&nbsp;employees worldwide and a private fleet of 200&nbsp;ships. It specialised in the spice trade and gave its shareholders 40% annual dividend.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.neatorama.com/2012/08/06/The-Nutmeg-Wars/|title=The Nutmeg Wars|website=Neatorama|date=6 August 2012 |access-date=19 February 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727070438/https://www.neatorama.com/2012/08/06/The-Nutmeg-Wars/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=October 2024}}

The British East India Company was fiercely competitive with the Dutch and French throughout the 17th and 18th centuries over spices from the [[Spice Islands]]. Some spices, at the time, could only be found on these islands, such as nutmeg and cloves; and they could bring profits as high as 400 per cent from one voyage.<ref name="Suijk2015">{{cite AV media | people=Suijk, Paul (Director) | date=2015 | title=1600 The British East India Company| trans-title = The Great Courses (Episode 5), 13:16| medium=on-line video | location=Brentwood Associates/The Teaching Company Sales. Chantilly, VA, USA | publisher=Liulevicius, Professor Vejas Gabriel (lecturer)}}</ref>

The tension was so high between the Dutch and the British East Indies Trading Companies that it escalated into at least four Anglo-Dutch wars:<ref name="Suijk2015" /> 1652–1654, 1665–1667, 1672–1674 and 1780–1784.

Competition arose in 1635 when Charles I granted a trading licence to Sir [[William Courten|William Courteen]], which permitted the rival [[Courteen association]] to trade with the east at any location in which the EIC had no presence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Riddick|first=John F.|title=The history of British India: a chronology|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2006|isbn=978-0-313-32280-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Es6x4u_g19UC&pg=PA4|page=4|access-date=11 October 2017|archive-date=4 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004144230/https://books.google.com/books?id=Es6x4u_g19UC&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}</ref>

In an act aimed at strengthening the power of the EIC, King Charles II granted the EIC (in a series of five acts around 1670) the rights to autonomous territorial acquisitions, to mint money, to command fortresses and troops and form alliances, to make war and peace, and to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the acquired areas.<ref>"East India Company" (1911). [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]], Volume 8, p.835</ref>

In 1689, a Mughal fleet commanded by [[Sidi Yaqub]] attacked Bombay. After a year of resistance the EIC surrendered in 1690, and the company sent envoys to [[Aurangzeb]]'s camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behaviour in the future. The emperor withdrew his troops, and the company subsequently re-established itself in Bombay and set up a new base in Calcutta.<ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Asia.aspx|title=Asia facts, information, pictures – Encyclopedia.com articles about Asia|publisher=encyclopedia.com|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822003428/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Asia.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| {{table}}
|+ Indian exports of textiles to Europe (pieces per year)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Broadberry |first1=Stephen |last2=Gupta |first2=Bishnupriya |title=The Rise, Organization, and Institutional Framework of Factor Markets |url=http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/factormarkets.php |website=International Institute of Social history |access-date=7 August 2018 |archive-date=8 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808012238/http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/factormarkets.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" | Years !! colspan="5" | EIC !! [[United East India Company|VOC]] !! France !! [[Estado da Índia|EdI]] !! Denmark !! rowspan="2" |Total
|-
! Bengal !!Madras!!Bombay!!Surat!!EIC (total)!!VOC (total)||||||
|-
| 1665–1669||7,041||37,078||95,558||||139,677||126,572||||||||266,249
|-
| 1670–1674||46,510||169,052||294,959||||510,521||257,918||||||||768,439
|-
| 1675–1679||66,764||193,303||309,480||||569,547||127,459||||||||697,006
|-
| 1680–1684||107,669||408,032||452,083||||967,784||283,456||||||||1,251,240
|-
| 1685–1689||169,595||244,065||200,766||||614,426||316,167||||||||930,593
|-
| 1690–1694||59,390||23,011||89,486||||171,887||156,891||||||||328,778
|-
| 1695–1699||130,910||107,909||148,704||||387,523||364,613||||||||752,136
|-
| 1700–1704||197,012||104,939||296,027||||597,978||310,611||||||||908,589
|-
| 1705–1709||70,594||99,038||34,382||||204,014||294,886||||||||498,900
|-
| 1710–1714||260,318||150,042||164,742||||575,102||372,601||||||||947,703
|-
| 1715–1719||251,585||20,049||582,108||||534,188||435,923||||||||970,111
|-
| 1720–1724||341,925||269,653||184,715||||796,293||475,752||||||||1,272,045
|-
| 1725–1729||558,850||142,500||119,962||||821,312||399,477||||||||1,220,789
|-
| 1730–1734||583,707||86,606||57,503||||727,816||241,070||||||||968,886
|-
| 1735–1739||580,458||137,233||66,981||||784,672||315,543||||||||1,100,215
|-
| 1740–1744||619,309||98,252||295,139||||812,700||288,050||||||||1,100,750
|-
| 1745–1749||479,593||144,553||60,042||||684,188||262,261||||||||946,449
|-
| 1750–1754||406,706||169,892||55,576||||632,174||532,865||||||||1,165,039
|-
| 1755–1759||307,776||106,646||55,770||||470,192||321,251||||||||791,443
|}

==== Slavery 1621–1834 ====

The East India Company's archives suggest its involvement in the slave trade began in 1684, when a Captain Robert Knox was ordered to buy and transport 250 slaves from Madagascar to [[St. Helena]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pinkston|first=Bonnie|date=3 October 2018|title=Documenting the British East India Company and their Involvement in the East Indian Slave Trade|url=https://aquila.usm.edu/slisconnecting/vol7/iss1/10|journal=SLIS Connecting|volume=7|issue=1|pages=53–59|doi=10.18785/slis.0701.10|issn=2330-2917|doi-access=free|access-date=20 June 2020|archive-date=22 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622151346/https://aquila.usm.edu/slisconnecting/vol7/iss1/10/|url-status=live}}</ref> The East India Company began using and transporting slaves in Asia and the Atlantic in the early 1620s, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,<ref name="topic/East">{{cite web|title=East India Company {{!}} Definition, History, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company|access-date=21 June 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=10 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910045538/https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company|url-status=live}}</ref> or in 1621, according to Richard Allen<!-- who? -->.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Richard B. |last=Allen |title=European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean, 1500–1850 |location=Athens, Ohio |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780821421062 |url=http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/European+Slave+Trading+in+the+Indian+Ocean%2C+1500%E2%80%931850 |language=en |access-date=21 June 2020 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729144332/https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/European+Slave+Trading+in+the+Indian+Ocean%2C+1500%E2%80%931850 |url-status=live }}</ref> Eventually, the company ended the trade in 1834 after numerous legal threats from the British state and the [[Royal Navy]] in the form of the [[West Africa Squadron]], which discovered various ships had contained evidence of the illegal trade.<ref>{{cite web|title=1834: the end of slavery?|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/the-slave-trade-and-abolition/sites-of-memory/ending-slavery/1834-the-end-of-slavery/|publisher= Historic England|accessdate= 6 December 2021}}</ref>

==== Japan ====
[[File:Bodleian Library MS. Jap. b.2 Shuinjo.jpg|thumb|A document with the original [[vermilion]] seal of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], granting trade privileges in Japan to the East India Company in 1613]]

In 1613, during the rule of [[Tokugawa Hidetada]] of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], the British ship {{ship||Clove|ship|2}}, under the command of Captain [[John Saris]], was the first English ship to call on Japan. Saris was the chief factor of the EIC's trading post in Java, and with the assistance of [[William Adams (sailor, born 1564)|William Adams]], an English sailor who had arrived in Japan in 1600, he was able to gain permission from the ruler to establish a commercial house in [[Hirado, Nagasaki|Hirado]] on the Japanese island of [[Kyushu]]:

{{blockquote|We give free license to the subjects of the King of Great Britaine, Sir Thomas Smythe, Governor and Company of the East Indian Merchants and Adventurers forever safely come into any of our ports of our Empire of Japan with their shippes and merchandise, without any hindrance to them or their goods, and to abide, buy, sell and barter according to their own manner with all nations, to tarry here as long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure.<ref>{{cite book|first=Marguerite Eyer|last=Wilbur|title=The East India Company: And the British Empire in the Far East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTCsAAAAIAAJ|year=1945|publisher=Stanford University Press|pages=82–83|access-date=31 October 2015|archive-date=30 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530110805/https://books.google.com/books?id=HTCsAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Unable to obtain Japanese [[raw silk]] for export to China, and with their trading area reduced to Hirado and [[Nagasaki]] from 1616 onwards, the company closed its factory in 1623.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Akira|last1=Hayami|title=Japan's Industrious Revolution: Economic and Social Transformations in the Early Modern Period|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-1rCQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-4-431-55142-3|page=49|access-date=31 October 2015|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426104735/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-1rCQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Anglo-Mughal war ====
{{Main|Anglo-Mughal war (1686–1690)}}
[[File:The English ask pardon of Aurangzeb.jpg|thumb|[[Kingdom of France|French]] illustration of [[Josiah Child|Sir Josiah Child]] requesting a pardon from the [[Mughal Emperor|Emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]]]]
The first of the [[Anglo-Indian wars]] occurred in 1686 when the company conducted naval operations against [[Shaista Khan]], the governor of [[Mughal Bengal]]. This led to the siege of Bombay and the subsequent intervention of the Mughal Emperor, [[Aurangzeb]]. Subsequently, the English company was defeated and fined.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Conflict and Cooperation in Anglo-Mughal Trade Relations during the Reign of Aurangzeb |first=Farhat |last=Hasan |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=34 |issue=4 |date=1991 |pages=351–360 |doi=10.1163/156852091X00058 |jstor=3632456}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=John Company Armed: The English East India Company, the Anglo-Mughal War and Absolutist Imperialism, c. 1675–1690 |first=James |last=Vaugn |journal=Britain and the World |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=September 2017}}</ref>

'''Mughal convoy piracy incident of 1695'''
{{Main|Ganj-i-Sawai}}
In September 1695, Captain [[Henry Every]], an English pirate on board the {{ship||Fancy|ship|2}}, reached the Straits of [[Bab-el-Mandeb]],{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} where he teamed up with five other pirate captains to make an attack on the Indian fleet returning from the annual pilgrimage to [[Mecca]]. The Mughal convoy included the treasure-laden ''[[Ganj-i-Sawai]]'', reported to be the greatest in the Mughal fleet and the largest ship operational in the Indian Ocean, and its escort, the ''Fateh Muhammed''. They were spotted passing the straits en route to [[Surat]]. The pirates gave chase and caught up with the ''Fateh Muhammed'' some days later, and meeting little resistance, took some £40,000 of silver.<ref name = "Burgess 2009">{{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Douglas R | author-link = Douglas Burgess |year=2009 |title=The Pirates' Pact: The Secret Alliances Between History's Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America|location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-147476-4}}</ref>{{rp|136–137}}

Every continued in pursuit and managed to overhaul ''Ganj-i-Sawai'', which resisted strongly before eventually [[striking the colours|striking]]. ''Ganj-i-Sawai'' carried enormous wealth and, according to contemporary East India Company sources, was carrying a relative of the [[Aurangazeb|Grand Mughal]], though there is no evidence to suggest that it was his daughter and her retinue. The loot from the ''Ganj-i-Sawai'' had a total value between £325,000 and £600,000, including 500,000 gold and silver pieces, and has become known as the richest ship ever taken by pirates.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sims-Williams |first1=Ursula |title=The highjacking of the Ganj-i Sawaʼi |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2013/03/the-highjacking-of-the-ganj-i-sawa%CA%BCi.html# |website=The British Library |access-date=16 June 2020 |archive-date=16 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616232224/https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2013/03/the-highjacking-of-the-ganj-i-sawa%CA%BCi.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

When the news arrived in England it caused an outcry. To appease Aurangzeb, the East India Company promised to pay all financial reparations, while [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] declared the pirates ''[[hostis humani generis]]'' ("the enemy of humanity").{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} In mid-1696 the government issued a £500 bounty on Every's head and offered a free pardon to any informer who disclosed his whereabouts. The first worldwide manhunt in recorded history was underway.<ref name = "Burgess 2009"/>{{rp|144}}

The plunder of Aurangzeb's treasure ship had serious consequences for the English East India Company. The furious Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Sidi Yaqub and [[Nawab Daud Khan]] to attack and close four of the company's factories in India and imprison their officers, who were almost lynched by a mob of angry [[Mughal (tribe)|Mughals]], blaming them for their countryman's depredations, and threatened to put an end to all English trading in India. To appease Emperor Aurangzeb and particularly his [[Grand Vizier]] [[Asad Khan (Mughal noble)|Asad Khan]], Parliament exempted Every from all of the [[Acts of grace (piracy)|Acts of Grace]] (pardons) and amnesties it would subsequently issue to other pirates.<ref>Fox, E. T. (2008). ''King of the Pirates: The Swashbuckling Life of Henry Every''. London: Tempus Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7524-4718-6}}.</ref>{{Disputed inline|Henry Avery and Acts of Grace|date=October 2022}}

<gallery class="center" widths="220px" heights="220px">
File:Mocha Dapper 1680.jpg|English, Dutch and Danish factories at [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]]
File:Henry Every.gif|An 18th-century depiction of [[Henry Every]], with the ''Fancy'' shown engaging its prey in the background
File:Every engaging the Great Mogul's Ship.jpg|British pirates that fought during the [[Child's War]] engaging the ''[[Ganj-i-Sawai]]''
File:Captain Every (Works of Daniel Defoe).png|Depiction of [[Henry Every|Captain Every]]'s encounter with the Mughal Emperor's granddaughter after his September 1695 capture of the Mughal trader ''Ganj-i-Sawai''
</gallery>

==== China ====
The British began trading with China in 1699.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theeastindiacompany.com/pages/history |title=The East India Company}}</ref> This fact is recorded from the Chinese side in ''[[Qingshi gao|The Draft History of the Qing]]'' under the year Kangxi 37 (1698).<ref>Zhao, Erxun 趙爾巽 ed. (1927). Qingshi Gao 清史稿, book 154. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.</ref> The apparent discrepancy between the British and Chinese sources can be explained by the fact that [[Chinese New Year]] of 1699 did not fall until January 31, so that any treaties entered into in January would have been logged under Kangxi 37 rather than Kangxi 38. In 1715 the Company established a permanent "factory" in [[Guangzhou]] (Canton).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rh7.org/factshts/eindiaco.pdf |title=The East India Company |author=The RH7 History Group}}</ref>

The company started selling opium to Chinese merchants in the 1770s in exchange for goods like [[porcelain]] and [[tea]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Opium War {{!}} National Army Museum |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/opium-war-1839-1842 |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.nam.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> causing a series of [[Opioid use disorder|opioid addiction]] outbreaks across China in 1820.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Opium trade {{!}} History & Facts {{!}} Britannica Money |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/opium-trade |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The ruling [[Qing dynasty]] outlawed the opium trade in 1796 and 1800,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Asia Pacific Foundation of |title=The Opium Wars in China |url=https://asiapacificcurriculum.ca/learning-module/opium-wars-china |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=Asia Pacific Curriculum |language=en}}</ref> but British merchants continued illegally nonetheless.<ref>{{Cite web |title=First Opium War |url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/First-Opium-War/ |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=Historic UK |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CONA Iconography Record |url=https://www.getty.edu/cona/CONAIconographyRecord.aspx?iconid=901001459 |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.getty.edu}}</ref> The Qing took measures to prevent the East India Company from selling opium, and destroyed tens of thousands of chests of opium already in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Opium Wars {{!}} Definition, Summary, Facts, & Causes {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> This series of events led to the [[First Opium War]] in 1839, which involved a succession of British naval attacks along the Chinese coast over the course of several months. As part of the [[Treaty of Nanking|Treaty of Nanjing]] in 1842, the Qing were forced to give British merchants special treatment and the right to sell opium. The Chinese also ceded territory to the British, including the island of [[Hong Kong Island|Hong Kong]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Hong Kong and the Opium Wars |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/hong-kong-and-the-opium-wars/ |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=The National Archives |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Forming a complete monopoly ===

==== Trade monopoly ====
The prosperity that the officers of the company enjoyed allowed them to return to Britain and establish sprawling estates and businesses, and to obtain political power, such as seats in the House of Commons.<ref name="Guha2016">{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Sumit |title=Beyond Caste |publisher=Permanent Black |year=2016 |isbn=978-81-7824-513-3 |pages=215–216 |chapter=Empires, Nations, and the Politics of Ethnic Identity, c. 1800-2000}}</ref> Ship captains sold their appointments to successors for up to £500. As recruits aimed to return to Britain wealthy by securing Indian money, their loyalties to their homeland increased.<ref name="Guha2016" />

The company developed a [[lobbying|lobby]] in the English parliament. Pressure from ambitious tradesmen and former company associates (pejoratively termed ''Interlopers'' by the company), who wanted to establish private trading firms in India, led to the passing of the deregulating act in 1694.<ref name="victorianweb.org">{{cite web|url=http://victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/eic.html|title=The British East India Company – the Company that Owned a Nation (or Two)|website=victorianweb.org|access-date=31 May 2010|archive-date=19 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319053723/http://victorianweb.org/history/empire/india/eic.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{anchor|East India Company Act 1697}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = East India Company Act 1697
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for raising a Sum not exceeding Two Millions upon a Fund for Payment of Annuities after the Rate of Eight Pounds per Cent. per Annum; and for settling the Trade to the East Indies.
| year                  = 1697
| citation              = [[9 Will. 3]]. c. 44
| introduced_commons    =
| introduced_lords      =
| territorial_extent    =
| royal_assent          = 5 July 1698
| commencement          =
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           =
| amends                =
| replaces              =
| amendments            = {{ubli|[[Statute Law Revision Act 1871]]|[[Statute Law Revision Act 1888]]}}
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1892]]
| related_legislation   =
| status                = Repealed
| legislation_history   =
| theyworkforyou        =
| millbankhansard       =
| original_text         =
| revised_text          =
| use_new_UK-LEG        =
| UK-LEG_title          =
| collapsed             = yes
}}
This act allowed any English firm to trade with India, unless specifically prohibited by act of parliament, thereby annulling the charter that had been in force for almost 100 years. When the East India Company Act 1697 ([[9 Will. 3]]. c. 44) was passed in 1697, a new "parallel" East India Company (officially titled the ''English Company Trading to the East Indies'') was floated under a state-backed indemnity of £2&nbsp;million.<ref name="Boggart">{{cite journal |last1=Boggart |first1=Dan |editor1-last=Lamoreaux |editor1-first=Naomi R. |editor2-last=Wallis |editor2-first=John Joseph |title=East Indian Monopoly and Limited Access in England |journal=Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development |date=2017 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago}}</ref> The powerful stockholders of the old company quickly subscribed a sum of £315,000 in the new concern, and dominated the new body. The two companies wrestled with each other for some time, both in England and in India, for a dominant share of the trade.<ref name="victorianweb.org" />

It quickly became evident that, in practice, the original company faced scarcely any measurable competition. The companies merged in 1708, by a tripartite indenture involving both companies and the state, with the charter and agreement for the new ''United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies'' being awarded by [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3t0TAAAAQAAJ|title=Charters Relating to the East India Company from 1600 to 1761: Reprinted from a Former Collection with Some Additions and a Preface for the Government of Madras|last1=East India Company |last2=Shaw|first2=John|date=1887|publisher=R. Hill at the Government Press|page=217|language=en|access-date=21 August 2018|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727135340/https://books.google.com/books?id=3t0TAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Under this arrangement, the merged company lent a sum of £3,200,000 to the Treasury, in return for exclusive privileges for the next three years, after which the situation was to be reviewed. The amalgamated company became the ''United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies''.<ref name="victorianweb.org" />

{{anchor|East India Company Act 1711}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = East India Company Act 1711
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for continuing the Trade and Corporation-capacity of the United East India Company, although their Fund should be redeemed.
| year                  = 1711
| citation              = [[10 Ann.]] c. 35{{br}}Ruffhead c. 28
| introduced_commons    =
| introduced_lords      =
| territorial_extent    =
| royal_assent          = 21 June 1712
| commencement          =
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           = 15 July 1867
| amends                =
| replaces              =
| amendments            =
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1867]]
| related_legislation   =
| status                = Repealed
| legislation_history   =
| theyworkforyou        =
| millbankhansard       =
| original_text         =
| revised_text          =
| use_new_UK-LEG        =
| UK-LEG_title          =
| collapsed             = yes
}}

A constant battle between the company lobby and Parliament followed for decades. The company sought a permanent establishment, while Parliament would not willingly allow it greater autonomy and so relinquish the opportunity to exploit the company's profits. In 1712, another act renewed the status of the company, though the debts were repaid. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India, almost all passing through the company, which reasserted the influence of the company lobby. The licence was prolonged until 1766 by yet another act in 1730.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

At this time, Britain and France became bitter rivals. Frequent skirmishes between them took place for control of colonial possessions. In 1742, fearing the monetary consequences of a war, the British government agreed to extend the deadline for the licensed exclusive trade by the company in India until 1783, in return for a further loan of £1&nbsp;million. Between 1756 and 1763, the [[Seven Years' War]] diverted the state's attention towards consolidation and [[French and Indian War|defence of its territorial possessions]] in Europe and its [[English colonization of the Americas|colonies in North America]].<ref name="oxforddnb.com">Thomas, P. D. G. (2008) "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22699 Pratt, Charles, first Earl Camden (1714–1794)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923123001/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-22699;jsessionid=282A5AF578D9E89BB7B4A0973166B5F2 |date=23 September 2021 }}", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, online edn. Retrieved 15 February 2008 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

The war partly took place in the Indian theatre, between the company troops and the French forces. In 1757, the [[Law Officers of the Crown]] delivered the [[Pratt–Yorke opinion]] distinguishing overseas territories acquired by [[right of conquest]] from those acquired by private [[treaty]]. The opinion asserted that, while the Crown of Great Britain enjoyed sovereignty over both, only the property of the former was vested in the Crown.<ref name="oxforddnb.com" />

With the advent of the [[Industrial Revolution]], Britain surged ahead of its European rivals. Demand for Indian commodities was boosted by the need to sustain troops and the economy during the war, and by the increased availability of raw materials and efficient methods of production. As home to the revolution, Britain experienced higher standards of living. Its ever-growing cycle of prosperity, demand and production had a profound influence on overseas trade. The company became the single largest player in the British global market. In 1801 [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville|Henry Dundas]] reported to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] that

{{blockquote|... on the&nbsp;1st March, 1801, the debts of the East India Company amounted to 5,393,989''[[Pound sterling|l.]]'' their effects to 15,404,736''l.'' and that their sales had increased since February 1793, from 4,988,300''l.'' to 7,602,041''l.''<ref>{{cite book |first=William Henry |last=Pyne |author-link=William Henry Pyne |title=The Microcosm of London, or London in Miniature |location=London |publisher=Methuen |volume=2 |year=1904 |orig-year=1808 |page=[https://archive.org/details/microcosmoflondo02pyneuoft/page/159 159] |url=https://archive.org/details/microcosmoflondo02pyneuoft }}</ref>}}

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Rear view of the East India Company's Factory at Cossimbazar.jpg|Rear view of the East India Company's [[Factory (trading post)|factory]] at [[Cossimbazar]]
File:Portrait of East India Company official.jpg|[[Company painting]] depicting an official of the East India Company, c. 1760
</gallery>

==== Saltpetre trade ====
[[File:Potassium nitrate.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Potassium nitrate|Saltpetre]] used for [[gunpowder]] was one of the major trade goods of the company]]

Sir [[Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet|John Banks]], a businessman from [[Kent]] who negotiated an agreement between the king and the company, began his career in a syndicate arranging contracts for [[Victualling Commissioners|victualling the navy]], an interest he kept up for most of his life. He knew that [[Samuel Pepys]] and [[John Evelyn]] had amassed a substantial fortune from the [[Levant]] and Indian trades.

He became a director and later, as governor of the East India Company in 1672, he arranged a contract which included a loan of £20,000 and £30,000 worth of [[Potassium nitrate|saltpetre]]—also known as potassium nitrate, a primary ingredient in [[gunpowder]]—for the King "at the price it shall [[Candle auction|sell by the candle]]"—that is by auction—where bidding could continue as long as an inch-long candle remained alight.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Janssens|first1=Koen|title=Annales Du 17e Congrès D'Associationi Internationale Pour L'histoire Du Verre|publisher=Asp / Vubpress / Upa|isbn=978-90-5487-618-2|page=366|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ir6UHACu7zMC&pg=PA366|year=2009|access-date=19 August 2016|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727140752/https://books.google.com/books?id=ir6UHACu7zMC&pg=PA366|url-status=live}}</ref>

Outstanding debts were also agreed and the company permitted to export 250 tons of saltpetre. Again in 1673, Banks successfully negotiated another contract for 700 tons of saltpetre at £37,000 between the king and the company. So high was the demand from armed forces that the authorities sometimes turned a blind eye on the untaxed sales. One governor of the company was even reported as saying in 1864 that he would rather have the saltpetre made than the tax on salt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://salt.org.il/frame_saltpet.html|title=SALTPETER the secret salt – Salt made the world go round|publisher=salt.org.il|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-date=6 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706161200/http://salt.org.il/frame_saltpet.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Basis for the monopoly ===
==== Colonial monopoly ====
{{Further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
[[File:The East offering its riches to Britannia - Roma Spiridone, 1778 - BL Foster 245.jpg|thumb|''[[The East Offering its Riches to Britannia]]'' - Roma Spiridone, 1778 - BL Foster 245]]
[[File:E India House.jpg|thumb|An engraving of [[East India House]], Leadenhall Street (1766)]]

The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) resulted in the defeat of the French forces, limited French imperial ambitions, and stunted the influence of the Industrial Revolution in French territories.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} [[Robert Clive]], the Governor-General, led the company to a victory against [[Joseph François Dupleix]], the commander of the French forces in India, and recaptured Fort St George from the French. The company took this respite to seize [[Battle of Manila (1762)|Manila]] in 1762.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.regiments.org/wars/18thcent/56philip.htm |title=The Seven Years' War in the Philippines |website=Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040710132157/http://www.regiments.org/wars/18thcent/56philip.htm |archive-date=10 July 2004 |access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Citation is to a hobbyist website; there must be peer reviewed academically published sources for this.|date=November 2016}}

By the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]], France regained the five establishments captured by the British during the war ([[Pondicherry district|Pondichéry]], [[Mahé, India|Mahe]], [[Karaikal]], [[Yanam, French India|Yanam]] and [[Chandernagar]]) but was prevented from erecting fortifications and keeping troops in Bengal (art. XI). Elsewhere in India, the French were to remain a military threat, particularly during the War of American Independence, and up to the capture of Pondichéry in 1793 at the outset of the French Revolutionary Wars without any military presence. Although these small outposts remained French possessions for the next two hundred years, French ambitions on Indian territories were effectively laid to rest, thus eliminating a major source of economic competition for the company.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In May 1772 the EIC stock price rose significantly. In June [[Alexander Fordyce]] lost £300,000 [[Short (finance)|shorting]] EIC stock, leaving his partners liable for an estimated £243,000 in debts.<ref>[[Tyler Goodspeed]]: ''Legislating Instability: Adam Smith, Free Banking, and the Financial Crisis of 1772''</ref> As this information became public, 20–30 banks across Europe collapsed during the [[British credit crisis of 1772-1773]].<ref>{{cite news |date=2015-03-04|title=The East India Company: The original corporate raiders {{!}} William Dalrymple|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders|access-date=2020-09-08|work=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://recession.tips/the-credit-crisis-of-1772/|title = The Credit Crisis of 1772 – Recession Tips|date = 26 November 2021}}</ref> In India alone, the company had bill debts of £1.2 million. It seems that EIC directors [[Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet|James Cockburn]] and [[George Colebrooke]] were "[[Bull (stock market speculator)|bulling]]" the Amsterdam market during 1772.<ref>[[Lucy Sutherland|Sutherland, L.]] (1952) The East India Company in eighteenth-century politics, Oxford UP, p. 228; SAA 735, 1155</ref> The root of this crisis in relation to the East India Company came from the prediction by [[Isaac de Pinto]] that 'peace conditions plus an abundance of money would push East Indian shares to 'exorbitant heights.'<ref name="sro.sussex.ac.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/55337/1/Joanna_Rudd_New_Commercial_Voices_Paper.pdf|title=The International Lender of Last Resort- An Historical Perspective by Joanna Rudd|date=15 November 2012 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|In September the company took out a loan from the Bank of England, to be repaid from the sale of goods later that month. But with buyers scarce,
most of the sale had to be postponed, and when the loan fell due, the company's coffers were empty. On October 29 the bank refused to renew the loan. That decision set in motion a chain of events that made the American Revolution inevitable. The East India Company had eighteen million pounds of tea sitting in British warehouses. A huge amount of tea as assets which were lying unsold.  Selling it in a hurry would do wonders for its finances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/1772two-hundred-and-twenty-five-years-ago |title=1772 Two Hundred And Twenty-five Years Ago. Tea and Antipathy by Frederic D. Schwarz |publisher=American Heritage Volume 48|date= 1997|accessdate=2022-05-25}}</ref> }}

On 14 January 1773 the directors of the EIC asked for a government loan and unlimited access to the tea market in the American colonies, both of which were granted.<ref>Sutherland, L. (1952), pp. 249–251</ref> In August 1773 the [[Bank of England]] assisted the EIC with a loan.<ref>Clapham, J. (1944) The Bank of England, p. 250</ref>

The East India Company had also been granted competitive advantages over colonial American tea importers to sell tea from its colonies in Asia in American colonies. This led to the [[Boston Tea Party]] of 1773 in which protesters boarded British ships and threw the tea overboard. When protesters successfully prevented the unloading of tea in three other colonies and in Boston, Governor [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]] of the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]] refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. This was one of the incidents which led to the [[American Revolution]] and independence of the American colonies.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Stacy|title=The big box swindle|date=19 July 2016 |url=https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/7/19/stacy-mitchell|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-date=21 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721154922/https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/7/19/stacy-mitchell|url-status=live}}</ref>

The company's trade monopoly with India was abolished in the [[Charter Act 1813]]. The monopoly with China was ended in [[Saint Helena Act 1833|1833]], ending the trading activities of the company and rendering its activities purely administrative.

=== Disestablishment ===
In the aftermath of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] and under the provisions of the [[Government of India Act 1858]], the British Government nationalised the company. The British government took over its Indian possessions, its administrative powers and machinery, and its [[presidency armies|armed forces]].<ref name="Conquests">{{Cite web |title=East India Company and Raj 1785-1858 |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/parliament-and-the-american-colonies-before-1765/east-india-company-and-raj-1785-1858/ |website=UK Parliament}}</ref>

The company had already divested itself of its commercial trading assets in India in favour of the UK government in 1833, with the latter assuming the debts and obligations of the company, which were to be serviced and paid from tax revenue raised in India. In return, the shareholders voted to accept an annual dividend of 10.5%, guaranteed for forty years, likewise to be funded from India, with a final pay-off to redeem outstanding shares. The debt obligations continued beyond dissolution and were only extinguished by the UK government during the Second World War.<ref>{{Citation|last=Robins|first=Nick|title=A Skulking Power|date=2012|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183pcr6.16|work=The Corporation That Changed the World|pages=171–198|series=How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational|publisher=Pluto Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt183pcr6.16|jstor=j.ctt183pcr6.16|isbn=978-0-7453-3195-9|access-date=30 January 2021|archive-date=3 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203145408/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183pcr6.16|url-status=live}}</ref>

The company remained in existence in vestigial form, continuing to manage the tea trade on behalf of the British Government (and the supply of [[Saint Helena]]) until the [[East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873]] came into effect, on 1 January 1874. This act provided for the formal dissolution of the company on 1 June 1874, after a final dividend payment and the commutation or redemption of its stock.<ref>[[East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873]] ([[36 & 37 Vict.]] c. 17) s. 36: "On the First day of June One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and on payment by the East India Company of all unclaimed dividends on East India Stock to such accounts as are herein-before mentioned in pursuance of the directions herein-before contained, the powers of the East India Company shall cease, and the said Company shall be dissolved." Where possible, the stock was redeemed through commutation (i.e. exchanging the stock for other securities or money) on terms agreed with the stockholders (ss. 5–8), but stockholders who did not agree to commute their holdings had their stock compulsorily redeemed on 30 April 1874 by payment of £200 for every £100 of stock held (s. 13).</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' commented on 8 April 1873:<ref name="Times"/>
{{blockquote|text=It accomplished a work such as in the whole history of the human race no other trading Company ever attempted, and such as none, surely, is likely to attempt in the years to come.}}