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Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine. The Latin botanical name means the 'sleep-bringing poppy', referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.
Francis Light served as a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763, but went out to seek his fortune in the colonies. From 1765, he worked as a private country trader. For about ten years he had his headquarters in Salang, Thailand, near Phuket, reviving a failed French trading post. While living there he learned to speak and write several languages, including Malay and Siamese. In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an imminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defence and subsequently to repel the Burmese invasion. For the British East India Company, he leased the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah, where many others had failed, and was supposedly given the Princess of Kedah as a reward (other sources state that the Princess was sent to covet Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan). The multicultural colony of Penang became extraordinarily successful from its inception and Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.<br/><br/> Light died from malaria on 21 October 1794 and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on Northam Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town. A statue which bears his name but has the facial features of his son William stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.<br/><br/> Light had four daughters and two sons with Martina Rozells, who was said to be of Portuguese and Siamese lineage. Martina is occasionally referred to in the literature as the Princess of Kedah, as above. If they were legally married, he did not declare it. However, it was against East India Company rules to marry a Catholic and, as Martina was Catholic, Light may have tried to avoid dismissal by never declaring his marriage. He did leave her his considerable property. Their son, Colonel William Light, was the founder of Adelaide in Australia.
Established in 1786, the Old Pretestant Cemetery (also known as Northam Road Cemetery), is a disused Christian cemetery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.<br/><br/> The cemetery is of significant historic interest: it is older than many better-known burial grounds such as Père Lachaise in Paris, Powązki in Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Highgate Cemetery in London. It is also 35 years older than the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. In 2012, conservation works were undertaken to protect and preserve the site, although there was some concern about how the restoration was done.
Established in 1786, the Old Pretestant Cemetery (also known as Northam Road Cemetery), is a disused Christian cemetery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.<br/><br/> The cemetery is of significant historic interest: it is older than many better-known burial grounds such as Père Lachaise in Paris, Powązki in Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Highgate Cemetery in London. It is also 35 years older than the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. In 2012, conservation works were undertaken to protect and preserve the site, although there was some concern about how the restoration was done.
Francis Light served as a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763, but went out to seek his fortune in the colonies. From 1765, he worked as a private country trader. For about ten years he had his headquarters in Salang, Thailand, near Phuket, reviving a failed French trading post. While living there he learned to speak and write several languages, including Malay and Siamese.<br/><br/> In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an imminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defence and subsequently to repel the Burmese invasion.<br/><br/> For the British East India Company, he leased the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah, where many others had failed, and was supposedly given the Princess of Kedah as a reward (other sources state that the Princess was sent to covet Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan). The multicultural colony of Penang became extraordinarily successful from its inception and Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.<br/><br/> Light died from malaria on 21 October 1794 and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on Northam Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town. A statue which bears his name but has the facial features of his son William stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.
Francis Light served as a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763, but went out to seek his fortune in the colonies. From 1765, he worked as a private country trader. For about ten years he had his headquarters in Salang, Thailand, near Phuket, reviving a failed French trading post. While living there he learned to speak and write several languages, including Malay and Siamese.<br/><br/> In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an imminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defence and subsequently to repel the Burmese invasion.<br/><br/> For the British East India Company, he leased the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah, where many others had failed, and was supposedly given the Princess of Kedah as a reward (other sources state that the Princess was sent to covet Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan). The multicultural colony of Penang became extraordinarily successful from its inception and Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.<br/><br/> Light died from malaria on 21 October 1794 and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on Northam Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town. A statue which bears his name but has the facial features of his son William stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.
Francis Light served as a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763, but went out to seek his fortune in the colonies. From 1765, he worked as a private country trader. For about ten years he had his headquarters in Salang, Thailand, near Phuket, reviving a failed French trading post. While living there he learned to speak and write several languages, including Malay and Siamese.<br/><br/> In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an imminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defence and subsequently to repel the Burmese invasion.<br/><br/> For the British East India Company, he leased the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah, where many others had failed, and was supposedly given the Princess of Kedah as a reward (other sources state that the Princess was sent to covet Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan). The multicultural colony of Penang became extraordinarily successful from its inception and Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.<br/><br/> Light died from malaria on 21 October 1794 and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on Northam Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town. A statue which bears his name but has the facial features of his son William stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.
Established in 1786, the Old Pretestant Cemetery (also known as Northam Road Cemetery), is a disused Christian cemetery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.<br/><br/> The cemetery is of significant historic interest: it is older than many better-known burial grounds such as Père Lachaise in Paris, Powązki in Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Highgate Cemetery in London. It is also 35 years older than the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. In 2012, conservation works were undertaken to protect and preserve the site, although there was some concern about how the restoration was done.
Sir William Jeffcott (1800 - 1855), born in Dublin, was a judge. In 1849 he was appointed Recorder of Singapore and Malacca (Melaka). In October 1855 he was appointed as a judge in Bombay, but died before receiving notification.<br/><br/> Colonel John Alexander Bannerman (5 June 1759 – 8 August 1819) was appointed Governor of Prince of Wales' Island (Penang Island, Malaysia) and Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai) (both forming the settlement of Penang) in 1817 and also Treasurer from 1818.
Established in 1786, the Old Pretestant Cemetery (also known as Northam Road Cemetery), is a disused Christian cemetery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.<br/><br/> The cemetery is of significant historic interest: it is older than many better-known burial grounds such as Père Lachaise in Paris, Powązki in Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Highgate Cemetery in London. It is also 35 years older than the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. In 2012, conservation works were undertaken to protect and preserve the site, although there was some concern about how the restoration was done.
Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi (c.19 November 1835 – 17 June 1858, (Marathi- झाशीची राणी लक्ष्मीबाई) was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India.<br/><br/> She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.
Francis Light served as a Royal Navy midshipman from 1759 to 1763, but went out to seek his fortune in the colonies. From 1765, he worked as a private country trader. For about ten years he had his headquarters in Salang, Thailand, near Phuket, reviving a failed French trading post. While living there he learned to speak and write several languages, including Malay and Siamese. In 1785, he warned the Thais on Phuket Island of an imminent Burmese attack. Light's warning enabled the islanders to prepare for Phuket's defence and subsequently to repel the Burmese invasion. For the British East India Company, he leased the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah, where many others had failed, and was supposedly given the Princess of Kedah as a reward (other sources state that the Princess was sent to covet Light's aid on behalf of the Sultan). The multicultural colony of Penang became extraordinarily successful from its inception and Light served as the Superintendent of the colony until his death.<br/><br/> Light died from malaria on 21 October 1794 and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery on Northam Road (now Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) in George Town. A statue which bears his name but has the facial features of his son William stands at Fort Cornwallis in George Town.<br/><br/> Light had four daughters and two sons with Martina Rozells, who was said to be of Portuguese and Siamese lineage. Martina is occasionally referred to in the literature as the Princess of Kedah, as above. If they were legally married, he did not declare it. However, it was against East India Company rules to marry a Catholic and, as Martina was Catholic, Light may have tried to avoid dismissal by never declaring his marriage. He did leave her his considerable property. Their son, Colonel William Light, was the founder of Adelaide in Australia.<br/><br/>
A voyage to the East Indies; containing authentic accounts of the Mogul government in general, the viceroyalties of the Decan and Bengal, with their several subordinate dependencies. This two-volume work is the third edition of a book first published as a single volume in 1757, expanded to two volumes in 1766, and republished in 1772. The author, John Henry Grose (active 1750-83), was born in England and went to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in March 1750, to work as a servant and writer for the British East India Company. The book contains Grose’s descriptions of 18th-century India, including his account of the war of 1756-63, in which the British East India Company largely eliminated France as a competitor for control of India and established the basis for British rule that was to last until the middle of the 20th century.
The East India Company (also the East India Trading Company, English East India Company, and then the British East India Company) was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China.<br/><br/> The oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies, the Company was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. It ceased to trade in 1857.
This photograph, taken in Singapore in the late 19th or early 20th century, is from the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress. Frank G. Carpenter (1855-1924) was an American writer of books on travel and world geography whose works helped to popularize cultural anthropology and geography in the United States in the early years of the 20th century.<br/><br/> Singapore came under British influence in 1819 when the [British] East India Company opened a trading port there with permission from the Sultanate of Johor. The British obtained sovereignty over the island in 1824 and Singapore became one of the British Straits Settlements in 1826. Occupied by the Japanese in World War II, Singapore declared independence, uniting with other former British territories to form Malaysia in 1963, although it was separated from Malaysia two years later. Since then it has had a massive increase in wealth, and is one of the Four Asian Tigers. Singapore is the world's fourth leading financial centre, and its port is one of the five busiest ports in the world.
Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi (c.19 November 1835 – 17 June 1858, (Marathi- झाशीची राणी लक्ष्मीबाई) was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India.<br/><br/> She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.
The East India Company (also the East India Trading Company, English East India Company, and then the British East India Company) was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China. The oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies, the Company was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. It ceased to trade in 1857.
'An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon together With somewhat Concerning Severall Remarkable passages of my life that hath hapned [sic] since my Deliverance out of Captivity' is a book written by the English trader and sailor Robert Knox in 1681. It describes his experiences some years earlier on the South Asian island now best known as Sri Lanka and provides one of the most important contemporary accounts of 17th century Ceylonese life. Knox spent 19 years on Ceylon after being taken prisoner by King Rajasimha II.
Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi (c.19 November 1835 – 17 June 1858, (Marathi- झाशीची राणी लक्ष्मीबाई) was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India.<br/><br/> She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.
A voyage to the East Indies; containing authentic accounts of the Mogul government in general, the viceroyalties of the Decan and Bengal, with their several subordinate dependencies. This two-volume work is the third edition of a book first published as a single volume in 1757, expanded to two volumes in 1766, and republished in 1772. The author, John Henry Grose (active 1750-83), was born in England and went to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in March 1750, to work as a servant and writer for the British East India Company. The book contains Grose’s descriptions of 18th-century India, including his account of the war of 1756-63, in which the British East India Company largely eliminated France as a competitor for control of India and established the basis for British rule that was to last until the middle of the 20th century.
A voyage to the East Indies; containing authentic accounts of the Mogul government in general, the viceroyalties of the Decan and Bengal, with their several subordinate dependencies. This two-volume work is the third edition of a book first published as a single volume in 1757, expanded to two volumes in 1766, and republished in 1772. The author, John Henry Grose (active 1750-83), was born in England and went to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in March 1750, to work as a servant and writer for the British East India Company. The book contains Grose’s descriptions of 18th-century India, including his account of the war of 1756-63, in which the British East India Company largely eliminated France as a competitor for control of India and established the basis for British rule that was to last until the middle of the 20th century.
British territorial acquisitions in the countries that now comprise Malaysia and Singapore date back to 1786, when the Sultan of Kedah, menaced both by occasional Burmese and Siamese attacks, ceded Penang Island to the British East India Company in exchange for protection against his aggressive northern neighbours.<br/><br/>On August 11, 1786, Captain – later Sir – Francis Light took possession of the island and renamed it Prince of Wales Island. In 1798 a strip of coastal territory opposite Penang was similarly ceded to the British, and renamed Province Wellesley.<br/><br/>In 1946 Singapore became a separate Crown Colony, while Penang and Malacca both joined the Malayan Union, which became the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Two years later, in August 1965, Singapore left the federation and became an independent state in its own right.
In April 1511, Portuguese conquistador Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1,200 men on a fleet of 17 or 18 ships. They conquered the city on August 24, 1511, and Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Malacca, had to take refuge in the hinterland. Malacca became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies where they could exploit the spice trade.<br/><br/> In 1641, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese with the help of the Sultan of Johore. The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798, but they were not interested in developing it as a trading centre, placing greater importance in Batavia (Jakarta) on Java as their administrative centre. Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra. From 1826 to 1946, Malacca was governed by Britain, first by the British East India Company and then as a Crown Colony.
Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. Despite early sailing disasters, the East India Company was formed in 1600. It became the British East India Company after the Treaty of Union in 1707. It was a joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.<br/><br/> The Company long held a privileged position within the British government, and was frequently granted special rights and privileges, including trade monopolies and exemptions, which caused much resentment among its competitors. The Company remained a powerful force until it was dissolved in 1874.
Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. Despite early sailing disasters, the East India Company was formed in 1600. It became the British East India Company after the Treaty of Union in 1707. It was a joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.<br/><br/> The Company long held a privileged position within the British government, and was frequently granted special rights and privileges, including trade monopolies and exemptions, which caused much resentment among its competitors. The Company remained a powerful force until it was dissolved in 1874.
Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. Despite early sailing disasters, the East India Company was formed in 1600. It became the British East India Company after the Treaty of Union in 1707. It was a joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.<br/><br/> The Company long held a privileged position within the British government, and was frequently granted special rights and privileges, including trade monopolies and exemptions, which caused much resentment among its competitors. The Company remained a powerful force until it was dissolved in 1874.
The Dutch East India Company established itself in the East Indies [now Indonesia] in the early 1600s with a view to controlling the lucrative trade in nutmeg, mace, cloves and pepper from a tiny cluster of islands known as the Moluccas [Maluku]. English merchants associated with the British East India Company, however, were also keen to stake a claim in the spice trade, and their interests came into direct conflict with those of the Dutch.<br/><br/> Early in 1623, the Dutch local governor, Herman van Speult, believed that the English merchants, helped by Japanese mercenaries, planned to kill him and overwhelm the Dutch garrison. He ordered the arrest of the alleged plotters. Under torture they admitted their guilt, and were executed on Amboina in February 1623. The British thereafter referred to the incident as the Amboina Massacre.
Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver. Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is today best known for casinos and gambling.
In 1604-06, Middleton commanded the second expedition of the [British] East India Company to the Spice Islands, or the Moluccas, in the East Indies [Indonesia] to try to lever some influence with the locals as the Dutch East India Company had established a virtual monopoly on the lucrative trade in nutmeg, mace, cloves and pepper.<br/><br/> After a successful voyage, Middleton was knighted on his return to England. In 1610, he set off on another voyage for 'The Company', this time with instructions to call at the Red Sea ports and at Surat in western India. At the port of Al-Mukha, or Mocha, in present-day Yemen, his ships and men were seized by the Turkish governor of the region. Middleton and several sailors were imprisoned for six months until they escaped. They managed to rejoin their ships and sailed to India and ultimately, the East Indies where, exhausted, Middleton died in 1613.
John Eldred sailed with Newberry and other merchants in 1583 on a royal decreed voyage to the Middle East to initiate trade in spices. Eldred remained in Basra while others continued to Persia and India. Six months later, Eldred left Basra with 70 barges laden with spices, mainly nutmeg and cinnamon. After 44 days they arrived in Baghdad where they joined a caravan of 4,000 camels that took 40 days to transport the merchandise to Aleppo in Syria. He remained in Aleppo for three years and when he left he was a wealthy man. He retired to the country in Suffolk buying a large manor which he named ‘Nutmeg Hall’. When the East India Company was established in 1600, Eldred became a major sponsor and financier.
After A Dutch spy, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, copied Portuguese nautical maps while working as secretary for the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa in the 1580s, his published maps and books enabled the maritime passage to the elusive East Indies to be opened to the English and the Dutch. This allowed the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company to break the 16th century monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese on trade with the East Indies (Indonesia) and the Spice Islands (Moluccas), though not without a great deal of bloodshed. The Portuguese East India Company lost its stranglehold on East Indies’ trade and commerce, and was liquidated in 1633.
The East India Company, which became the British East India Company after the 1707 Treaty of Union, was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China. The Company was granted an English Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. After a rival English company challenged its monopoly in the late 17th century, the two companies were merged in 1708 to form the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), colloquially referred to as John Company.<br/><br/> The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea and opium. The Company also came to rule large areas of India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions, to the exclusion, gradually, of its commercial pursuits; it effectively functioned as a megacorporation. Company rule in India, which effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, lasted until 1858, when, following the events of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Crown assumed direct administration of India in the new British Raj. The Company itself was finally dissolved on 1 January 1874, as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act.
The Banda Islands are a group of 10 tiny volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 2,000 km east of Java, and are part of Indonesia. During the 16th and 17th centuries, these remote islands were European explorers’ most prized colony due to the fact that they were the world’s sole source of nutmeg and mace.<br/><br/> First claimed by the Portuguese in 1512, the Bandas were then seized by the Dutch and British East India Companies who vied for the rare spices, also including cloves and pepper, which could be sold in Europe for 300 times the cost.
Cornelis de Houtman (1565—99), brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia which helped start the Dutch spice trade. At the time, the Portuguese Empire held a monopoly on the spice trade, and the voyage was a symbolic victory for the Dutch.<br/><br/> However, the voyage itself was a disaster, beset with mutiny, killings and scurvy. De Houtman managed to insult and alienate almost everyone he met on the way. He was refused spices after insulting the Sultan of Banten on Java, then he allowed his men to rape and plunder on Madura. He managed to buy only a few pots of peppercorns on Bali; then in 1599, in Aceh in Sumatra, he insulted the sultan, setting off a sea battle in which he himself was killed.
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563—1611) was a Dutch Protestant merchant, traveller and historian who is credited with copying top-secret Portuguese nautical maps while working as secretary for the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa in the 1580s. He published several books in Holland which enabled the maritime passage to the elusive East Indies to be opened to the English and the Dutch. This enabled the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company to break the 16th century monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese on trade with the East Indies and the Spice Islands.
Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. Despite early sailing disasters, the East India Company was formed in 1600. It became the British East India Company after the Treaty of Union in 1707. It was a joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.<br/><br/> The Company long held a privileged position within the British government, and was frequently granted special rights and privileges, including trade monopolies and exemptions, which caused much resentment among its competitors. The Company remained a powerful force until it was dissolved in 1874.
Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a group of London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. Despite early sailing disasters, the East India Company was formed in 1600. It became the British East India Company after the Treaty of Union in 1707. It was a joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.<br/><br/> The Company long held a privileged position within the British government, and was frequently granted special rights and privileges, including trade monopolies and exemptions, which caused much resentment among its competitors. The Company remained a powerful force until it was dissolved in 1874.
The East India Company (also the East India Trading Company, English East India Company, and then the British East India Company) was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China. The oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies, the Company was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. It ceased to trade in 1857.