THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY:

UNRAVELING HISTORICAL THREADS

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2

Historical Context............................................................................................................................2

Economic Impact.............................................................................................................................3

Political Influence............................................................................................................................3

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4

References........................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
The British East India Company was a world trade giant from the 1600s to the 1800s. It was very
strong and will never be forgotten in history. This huge trade hub was built in 1600 and became a
political and economic powerhouse that ran a huge kingdom that included India, Southeast Asia,
and China (Parsons, 2019). With just £70,000 to get started, it quickly became the biggest
business in the world by cashing in on the profitable spice trade. Back in the 1700s, it pretty
much had a lock on trade with India and made huge profits that are worth millions of dollars
today. In contrast, this economic strength came at a high price. The sign tells about the East India
Company's rich history and the economic, political, and cultural lines that are still present in the
world today.

Historical Context
British East India Company is considered as a trailblazer in the past of world trade. An official
document from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 marked the beginning of the group (Huzzey, 2017).
With only £70,000 to start, the Company started a giant business with unique rights to trade. The
company grew very quickly, and by the middle of the 18th century, it had a lot of power over
India (Lintner, 2015). In this process, the Battle of Plassey in 1757 was a major event that made
it stronger politically.

This organization was trading more than half of Britain's goods by the early 1800s, which was a
level of trade that had never been seen before. In the last few years of the 18th century, profits
were so high that dividends hit a high point of 10% per year (Hutchins, 2015). In addition to
changing the economy, this time in history also made it possible for the British Empire to want to
rule the whole world. With the first sail, the British East India Company began a long and
difficult history of trade, politics, and building an empire.
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Economic Impact
The Indian economy was changed a lot by the British East India Company. The Company
became a huge trade force by controlling trade routes and using resources in the area. Around
70% of India's trade with other countries was handled by it by the late 18th century (Weiss,
2016). India used to be a great producer, but unfair trade conditions caused it to become a net
importer. Supplies like opium, cotton, and indigo became very important. Some years, the
Company made more than 90% of its money from marijuana alone.

There were gains at levels that had never been seen before. From 1769 to 1779, they were worth
£6.5 million (Rud, 2017). But not everyone benefited from this economic growth. China lost a
lot of money and sent it to Britain because of high taxes and the loss of resources. It hurt the
economy for a long time. It got very rich for the British East India Company, which hurt India's
economy a lot and left a long-lasting record of unfair trade and exploitation (Clegg, 2017).

Political Influence
The British East India Company's rise to power changed India's government for good. It used its
economic strength to gain political power, and by the middle of the 18th century, it really did
control a lot of land. The Company-backed forces won the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which made
the Company more powerful in politics (Cohn, 2017). The real Mughal Emperor and the puppet
Nawabs were both Indian kings who used theatre to get more power.

In the early 1800s, the East India Company ran places with more than 260 million people
(Thorner, 2017). This shows how much political power they had. It had power in both the
military and the government. Like the Bengal Army, it was made. The political games were at
their worst when the Doctrine of Lapse took over royal states and gave the government even
more power. Britain's empire changed the way power works around the world and will have a
long impact on India's political path because of the work of the Company (Vaughn, 2019).
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Conclusion
A big part of world history, the British East India Company left its mark on the world scene. The
country makes a lot of money and controls trade (it provides more than half of Britain's imports),
which is very different from India, which is having economic problems and losing money. The
Company's control over land and annexations caused political issues and changed India's
political path. It was hard to figure out who they were as a society when British rules were mixed
with native resistance. This analysis not only tells us about the past, but it also shows us what the
future might hold by combining historical lines with current points of view. History shows how
nationalism, power, and abuse can all work together in complex ways. The history of the British
East India Company proves this.
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References
Clegg, S., 2017. The East India company: The first modern multinational?. In Multinational
corporations and organization theory: Post millennium perspectives (Vol. 49, pp. 43-67).
Emerald Publishing Limited.

Cohn, B.S., 2017. Notes on the History of the Study of Indian Society and Culture. In Structure
and change in Indian society (pp. 3-28). Routledge.

Hutchins, F.G., 2015. The illusion of permanence: British imperialism in India. Princeton
University Press.

Huzzey, R., 2017. Freedom burning: anti-slavery and empire in Victorian Britain. Cornell
University Press.

Lintner, B., 2015. Great game east: India, China, and the struggle for Asia's most volatile
frontier. Yale University Press.

Parsons, T.H., 2019. The British imperial century, 1815–1914: A world history perspective.
Rowman & Littlefield.

Rud, S., 2017. Colonialism in Greenland: Tradition, governance and legacy. Springer.

Thorner, D., 2017. Investment in Empire: British railway and steam shipping enterprise in India,
1825-1849. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Vaughn, J.M., 2019. The politics of empire at the accession of George III: the East India
Company and the crisis and transformation of Britain's imperial state. Yale University
Press.

Weiss, H., 2016. Introduction: Portals of Early Modern Globalisation and Creolisation in the
Atlantic World during the Era of the Slave Trade. In Ports of Globalisation, Places of
Creolisation (pp. 1-21). Brill.