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You mean the British one? The Dutch had theirs, so did the French
The UK "Honourable East India Company" was a commercial company which had a monopoly on trade with the "east". Because of piracy they armed their trading ships much more than was the custom in Europe. Most of their actions were in India, where they soon became allies with some local rulers. They faced competition from the Portugese, the Dutch and the French. Some of the competition took form of war between the Indian rulers who supported the French or British traders. The HEIC won those, and ended up as the de-facto owner of the lands which formerly belonged to the defeated rulers. Several conflicts later they administered a huge part of India and were friends with the rest. They built railroads and eliminated the Thuggee cult- people who murdered strangers in the name of religion

Came an uprisig of Sepoys (HEIC troops) - which was put down. However the UK government got involved and took over. The Company just made too much money - so the politicians just HAD to take it away...

The UK govt fought more wars and enlarged the land. however the patchwork "ownership" remained until after WW2. In fact when Indian independence was granted, the UK government gave away what it did not own- namely independent Indian states which were UK allies (a prime example is Kashmir) to become a part of India/Pakistan

2007-12-05 22:18:08 · answer #1 · answered by cp_scipiom 7 · 0 0

The English (later, British) East India Company was granted a Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1602 to trade with 'the Indies' It obtained a foothold on the Indian sub-continent and gradually extended its sphere of influence there. By the 18th century under under the leadership of Robert, Lord Clive ('Clive of India') and Warren Hastings it became all powerful. After the Battle of Plassey the company (known as 'John Company') had control of all of Bengal. There were battles with the French, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars (the Duke of Wellington first came to prominence in these battles). The company extended its control partly by conquest and then direct rule and partly by treaties with Indian princes etc. Until 1857 it was the Government of India, even though a Governor-General was appointed from the 1780s, given the title of Viceroy in the 1830s. It even had its own army, made up mainly of native recruits ('sepoys'). In 1857 many of these sepoys revolted in the Mutiny. So great was the concern following the ending of the mutiny - which nearly drove the British out of India - that it formally became part of the Empire with Queen Victoria holding the title 'Empress of India'. Administration was taken over by the Indian Civil Service and the EIC was finally wound up in the early 20th century.

2007-12-06 00:00:41 · answer #2 · answered by rdenig_male 7 · 0 0

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