- The English Association or Company to Trade with the East was founded about 1599 CE by a group of merchants known as “The Merchant Adventurers.”
- Queen Elizabeth granted the corporation a royal charter and the exclusive right to trade in the East on December 31, 1600 CE, and it became known as the East India Company.
The Rise of English
- Captain William Hawkins landed at the court of Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1609 CE to request permission to open an English trading post in Surat.
- The Emperor, however, declined it owing to Portuguese pressure.
- Later, in 1612 CE, Jahangir gave the East India Company permission to build a factory at Surat.
- Sir Thomas Roe arrived at the Mughal court as an envoy for James I, King of England, in c. 1615 CE and was successful in obtaining an Imperial Farman to trade and develop factories in various regions of India.
- The English developed factories in Agra, Ahmedabad, Baroda, and Broach by c. 1619 CE.
- Masulipatnam was the site of the English’s first factory in the south.
- Francis Day bought Madras from the Raja of Chandragiri in 1639 CE and erected a modest fort around their factory called Fort St. George.
- On the Coromandel coast, Madras quickly displaced Masulipatnam as the English headquarters.
- In c. 1668 CE, the English East India Company purchased Bombay from Charles II, the then-king of England, and Bombay became the company’s west coast headquarters.
- Job Charnock founded an English workshop in a region named Sutanuti in 1690 CE.
- It ultimately became the city of Calcutta, which was home to Fort William and later became the capital of British India.
- British towns in Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta grew into thriving metropolises.
- As the British East India Company expanded in prominence, it was on the verge of becoming a sovereign state in India.
- An English mission headed by John Surman to the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar’s court in 1715 gained three notable farmans, granting the Company numerous important rights in Bengal, Gujarat, and Hyderabad.
