This was arrogant but it resulted in many initiatives, such as education provision and measures aimed at creating social equality that raised many people out of poverty and imbued them with a sense of shared values and human dignity. It began unashamedly as a money-making, commercial activity but increasingly re-conceived itself as a moral enterprise. After this anti-British rebellion (or First War of Indian Independence), the British government decided that direct rule would be more appropriate.Ī close study of the history of the company shows how the British imperial project was re-imagined over the course of its history. The last emperor was deposed and exiled after lending nominal leadership to the revolt. Technically, the company had always governed as agent of the Moghul Emperor. The company's policy of annexing Indian states whose rulers they considered “corrupt” (or when they refused to recognize a ruler's heir) was one of the main causes of the revolt of 1857–1858. The Utilitarian philosopher, John Stuart Mill, who worked for the company, defended its record and argued that it ought to continue to govern India, since it was above party-politics and completely devoted to Indian affairs while London was too distant from India to administer it properly. Increasingly, the company had been compelled to promote the material and moral progress of its Indian subjects, as, while trade remained the main goal of Empire, the British started to justify imperialism by speaking of a duty to “civilize” and “educate.” Servants of the company, though, could make vast amounts of money and were highly paid while their counterparts at home received modest salaries. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, until its dissolution in 1858. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created The Honourable Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies (HEIC) a 15 year monopoly on all trade in the East Indies.
The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as "John Company," was a joint-stock company which was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intention of favoring trade privileges in India. The East India Company may have since been overshadowed by modern capitalism, but its legacy is still felt around the world.The expanded East India House, Leadenhall Street, London, as rebuilt 1799-1800, Richard Jupp, architect (as seen c. By 1874, the company was a shell of its former self and was dissolved.īy then, the East India Company had been involved in everything from getting China hooked on opium (the Company grew opium in India, then illegally exported it to China in exchange for coveted Chinese goods) to the international slave trade (it conducted slaving expeditions, transported slaves and used slave labour throughout the 17th and 18th centuries). In 1858, after a long wind down, the British government finally ended company rule in India. The subcontinent was now under the rule of the East India Company’s shareholders, who elected "merchant-statesmen" each year to dictate policy within its territory.īut financial woes and a widespread awareness of the company’s abuses of power eventually led Britain to seek direct control of the East India Company. At its height, it had an army of 260,000 (twice the size of Britain’s standing army) and was responsible for almost half of Britain’s trade. In the years that followed, the East India company forcibly annexed other regions of the subcontinent and forged alliances with rulers of territory they were conquer. The company then built on its victory and drove the French and Dutch out of the Indian subcontinent. Robert Clive, who led the company’s 3,000-person army, became Bengal’s governor and began collecting taxes and customs, which were then used to purchase Indian goods and export them to England. In 1757, however, it seized control of the entire Mughal state of Bengal. The East India Company’s royal charter gave it the ability to “wage war,” and initially it used military force to protect itself and fight rival traders.
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