East India Company was the name of several European companies that opened trade with India and the Far East in the 1600’s. East India companies were private enterprises given charters by the governments of England, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. The companies received special trading rights from their governments. The British East India Company had the longest life—nearly 260 years—and the greatest influence. It opened India and the Far East to English trade and eventually brought India into the British Empire.
Before 1600, Portugal controlled most European trade with India and the Far East. The English company was formed in 1600, and soon began competing with the Portuguese. The Dutch company was formed in 1602, the Danish company in 1616, and the French company in 1664. During the 1600’s, the Dutch and English companies seized most of the Portuguese holdings and drove most of the Portuguese traders out of India. The Dutch gained control of the islands that became the Dutch East Indies (now part of Indonesia).
To protect itself, the English company made agreements with the rulers of India during the 1600’s. It carried on trade without trying to acquire territory. But in the early 1700’s, the Mogul Empire, which had ruled India and given it political unity for about 200 years, began to break up. Many regional states emerged, and fighting often broke out among them. The English and French companies tried to improve their positions in India by intervening in Indian politics and taking sides in local disputes. In the 1740’s and 1750’s, the French tried to win control of India, but the British, under Robert Clive, stopped them. French influence in India ended in the early 1800’s, when the French were at war in Europe. British influence then spread quickly, without French interference.
Legislation passed by the Dutch government in 1798 caused the Dutch company, deep in debt, to disband the following year. In 1845, the Danish holdings in India were sold to the British company. The British company ruled India until the Indian Rebellion (also called the Sepoy Rebellion), a revolt led by Indian troops from 1857 to 1859. In 1858, as a result of the revolt, the British government took control of India from the East India Company.
See also Clive, Robert; Dutch East India Company; India, History of; Indian Rebellion; Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford.
