Calico, Saltpetre and Silver: What the Company Actually Traded
Pepper drew the English east, Indian cloth made them rich, saltpetre armed their state and silver paid for it all, until Plassey reversed the stream.
Read MoreThe Farman of 1717: The Emperor’s Gift That Poisoned Bengal
A surgeon's cure won the Company duty free trade in Bengal in 1717. The abuse of that privilege lit the forty year fuse that ended at Plassey.
Read MoreTwo Companies, One Empire: The Rivalry and Merger of 1709
For a decade England had two East India Companies at war with each other in Parliament and in India. Their merger in 1709 created the Company that took Bengal.
Read MoreChild’s War: When the Company Fought Aurangzeb and Begged for Pardon
In 1686 the Company declared war on Aurangzeb's empire and was crushed within four years, begging pardon with bound hands. The defeat was also a prophecy.
Read MoreJob Charnock and the Founding of Calcutta
In August 1690 Job Charnock unpacked his goods under a tree at Sutanuti. Within a century the swamp behind him was the capital of British India.
Read MoreBombay: The Islands That Came as a Dowry
Bombay came to England as part of a Portuguese princess's dowry and was leased to the Company for ten pounds a year. It became the richest city of the subcontinent.
Read MoreMadras 1639: A Strip of Sand That Became Fort St George
Francis Day's 1639 bargain for a strip of Coromandel beach gave the Company Fort St George, its first territory, and its first taste of ruling Indian subjects.
Read MoreSir Thomas Roe at the Court of Jahangir: An Ambassador Among Emperors
For four years Sir Thomas Roe followed Jahangir's court seeking a treaty the Mughals saw no reason to sign. His real legacy was a warning his Company later betrayed.
Read MoreSwally 1612: The Sea Battle That Opened Surat to the English
Two English ships beat a Portuguese fleet off Suvali in 1612 while Mughal officials watched from the shore. The reward was a factory at Surat and a foothold in India.
Read MoreThe Charter of 1600: The Day a Company Was Born
On 31 December 1600 Elizabeth I chartered a company of London merchants to buy pepper. The document carried, unnoticed, the embryonic powers of a state.
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