British East India Trading Company
There is a new series that explores the fascinating relationship between India and
Britain. It delved into some of the key facts behind this relationship but also live the lid off
of some previously hidden secrets. British East India Trading Company is known as East
India Company. The East India Company is of course the starting point of the tremendous
tale about the relationship between Britain and India but this tale involves many others.
According to B. Johnson. (2020), the sailing east trading purposes started by
European explorers. Before that, Portuguese and Spanish were the first dominant on the new
sailing routes. In the year 1588, the destruction of the Spanish Armada let the Dutch and
British able to have more active in the role of the trade with the East Indies.
British also merchants asked permission to explore the India Seas for trading
purposes. The queen of England which is Queen Elizabeth I conferred the Royal Charter to
East India Company in the year 1600 (Chatterjee, Manini & A. Roy, 2002). This is because
she is going to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade in India and expand the trade in
east India and the far east. At the same time, there is a rule of the British Empire to India by
the East India Company.
Then, East India Company was granted permission to set up a company. In the first
century, East India Company was focus on trade but not on political dominance. Thus,
Dutch, French and Britain fiercely fought for the huge source of wealth in India (Chatterjee &
A. Roy, 2002). East India Company fast forwards to the third voyage into the Indian Seas
which saw William Hawkins land in Surat and be the first member of the East India
Company which come to set foot on Indian soil. The Dutch East India Company was already
trading and had control of the spice trade coming out of the East Indies.
(B. Johnson, 2020) In 1601, the first expedition with four ships commanded by James
Lancaster left for Asia. After two years, he and his expedition returned with a cargo of
pepper which has a weight of 500 tons. However, the trade becomes more difficult in the
middle of the year 1600 and they also know that Dutch East India is more powerful than
them. Therefore, they try to grow in a new market which attention to cotton and silk because
of the wars and pirates. Followed by S. Singh. (2008), They know Dutch East India is more
powerful by the Amboina Massacre in 1623. Dutch killed 10 Englishmen, 1 Portuguese and
10 Japanese (G. Lotha, 2016). Besides, East India Company also used the ways of
transporting enslaved people and slave labor to its facilities start from 1620. The large-scale
of transportation slaves by the corporate was prevalent from the year 1730 to 1750 and
resulted in 1770 (S. Singh, 2008).
The corporate had recognized the decline of India’s Mughal Empire in the 18 th
century (D. William, 2015) that tea is more important for China. Then, this together with
desperate to eliminate competition from its French counterpart which is the French East
Indies Trading Company, led the corporate to eventually defeat local rulers and gain control
over India and its people, the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs (Dalrymple, 2015).
Start from the 19th century, the East India Company want to has a corporation with
China about illegal opium but China disagreed with the trade. Therefore, the Opium War
happen from the year 1839 to 1842. Finally, Chinese defeat in the war and British trading
privileges get the expansion. Europeans hope to increased their trade. So, Arrow War
happen from the year 1856 until 1860 (S. Singh, 2008). In 1857, Indian Mutiny happened
that ceased to exist as a legal entity.
