East India Company
The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), East India Trading Company (EITC), the English East India Company or (after 1707) the British East India Company, and informally known as John Company, Company Bahadur, or simply The Company was an English and later British joint-stock company founded in 1600. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with Qing China. The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong after the First Opium War, and maintained trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf Residencies.

Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies", the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India.

The company eventually came to rule large areas of India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company rule in India effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey and lasted until 1858 when, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of India in the form of the new British Raj.

Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances. The company was dissolved in 1874 as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act passed one year earlier, as the Government of India Act had by then rendered it vestigial, powerless, and obsolete. The official government machinery of British Raj had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies.
Q193515
1707
EVE
Q134161
joint-stock company
Concept
Q6021159
trade in the Indian Ocean region
UNK
Q213137
East Indies
LOC
Q60140
Indian subcontinent
LOC
Q11708
Southeast Asia
LOC
Q8733
Qing China
Concept
Q2001966
control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent
Concept
Q28135622
colonised parts of Southeast Asia
UNK
Q1054923
Hong Kong
LOC
Q191282
First Opium War
EVE
Q1132257
Persian Gulf Residencies
UNK
Q162157
chartered
Concept
Q11457
cotton
Concept
Q37681
silk
Concept
Q422662
indigo dye
Concept
Q11002
sugar
Concept
Q11254
salt
Concept
Q42527
spice
Concept
Q11183742
saltpetre
Concept
Q6097
tea
Concept
Q46452
opium
Concept
Q8680
British Empire
LOC
Q2001966
Company rule in India
Concept
Q203233
Battle of Plassey
EVE
Q129864
Indian Rebellion of 1857
EVE
Q1359529
Government of India Act 1858
MEDIA
Q21941952
British Crown
ORG
Q129286
British Raj
MEDIA
Q5328638
East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act
MEDIA
Q6723743
government machinery
UNK
Q129286
British Raj
MEDIA
Q83164
East India Company
Concept
Q83164
East India Company
Concept
Q83164
East India Company
Concept
Q83164
East India Company
Concept
1707-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1707
DATE
1600-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1600
DATE
1800-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1800
DATE
1757-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1757
DATE
1858-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1858
DATE
1857-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1857
DATE
1858-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1858
DATE
1874-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1874
DATE
-1700^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1700
NUMBER
legal form
legal form
legal form
legal form
replaces
inception
location
point in time
publication date
publication date
inception
inception