East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and 'John Company'. It was a joint-stock company that was granted an English Royal Charter on December 31, 1600 by Elizabeth I. The British East India Company started out as a commercial trading venture, but grew in strength and eventually virtually ruled India until the Indian Mutiny in 1857.
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| See our interactive map of 17th cent HEIC Factories on Google Maps | |
17th century Factories
Listed below are some of the early trading posts set up by the East India Company. The Company initially concentrated on the East Indies spice trade but was vigorously opposed by the Dutch. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 saw the cessation of all Dutch activities in the Indian subcontinent and all English activities in the East Indies.
Bantam
The first trading post set up in 1603 at Banten, Java by James Lancaster. Initially the factories on the Coromandel Coast reported to Bantam. The factory was closed in 1683.
FIBIS Resources
See also
External Links
- Records within The National Archives Relating to the East India Company
- Honourable East India Company Wikipedia
- "Unit 2 BRITISH ADMINISTRATION:1757-1858” from the Indira Gandhi National Open University pdf version and html version. This India List post dicusses the "Secret Department" and other Departments,, based on information from the preceding link.
- Poplar High Street [London]: The Church of St Matthias and the East India Company’s Almshouses from British History Online
- The East India Company - a view www.sscnet.ucla.edu
- This British Raj thread is about the schooling of some HEIC recruits.
Historical books online
- Annals of the Honorable East-India Company: From Their Establishment by the Charter of Queen Elizabeth, 1600, to the Union of the London and English East-India Companies, 1707-8 by John Bruce (1810). Google Books: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.
- A Sketch of the History of the East-India company: from its first formation to the passing of the Regulating act of 1773; with a summary view of the changes which have taken place since that period in the internal administration of British India by Robert Grant (1813) Google Books
- An analysis of the constitution of the East-India company, and of the laws passed by Parliament for the government of their affairs, at home and abroad: To which is prefixed, a brief history of the company, and of the rise and progress of the British power in India by Peter Auber (1826). The Appendix contains names of important officials - eg. Governor Generals, Commanders-in Chief of Armies, Members of Council. Google Books
- Supplement to An analysis of the constitution of the East-India Company: and of the laws passed by Parliament for the government of their affairs, at home and abroad : to which is prefixed, a brief history of the Company, and of the rise and progress of the British Power in India by Peter Auber (1828). Covers the period May 1826 to 1828. Google Books
- Descriptive List of Secret Department Records 1784 National Archives of India ?1918 Volume 5 Google Books
- Letters Received by the East India Company from Its Servants in the East: transcribed from India Office Records Archive.org
- Volume 1 1602-1613 1896 Volume 2 1613-1615 1897 Volume 3 1615 1899 Volume 4 1616 1900 Volume 5 1617 January to June 1901 Volume 6, 1617 July-December 1902
- The English Factories in India: A Calendar of Documents in the India Office, British Museum and Public Records Office by William Foster Archive.org
- 1618-1621 1906 1622-1623 1908 1624-1629 1909 1630-1633 1910 1634-1636 1911 1637-41 1912 1642-45 1913 1646-1650 1914 1651-1654 1915 1655-1660 1921 1661-1664 1923. Volume 12,1665-1667 and Volume 13,1668-1669 are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website
- Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series edited by W Noel Sainsbury Archive.org
- Volume 2 East Indies, China and Japan 1513-1616 1862, Volumes 3 and 4: East Indies, China and Japan 1617-1621 and 1622-1624 are not available online, Volume 6 East Indies, China and Persia 1625-1629 1884 Volume 8 East Indies and Persia 1630-1634 1892
- A Calendar of the Court Minutes, Etc. of the East India Company by Ethel Bruce Sainsbury Archive.org
- The early annals of the English in Bengal, being the Bengal public consultations for the first half of the eighteenth century, summarised, extracted, and edited with introductions and illustrative addenda by Charles Robert Wilson Archive.org. Volume 1 1704-1710 1895, Volume 2 Part 1 1711-1717 1900
- Bengal; its Chiefs, Agents, and Governors by Frederick Charles Danvers 1888 Archive.org
- "State of the Company’s Service in 1765"-Lord Clive to the Court of Directors , page 465 from Lives of Indian Officers: Illustrative of the History of the Civil and Military Service of India Volume 1 by John William Kaye (1867) Google Books
- Early revenue history of Bengal, and the Fifth Report, 1812 by Frank David Ascoli 1917 Archive.org