Editing East India Company (section)

==== 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.}}