Institution

East India Company

Also Known As EIC · John Company

Historic Trading Companies and Banks

Chartered by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600 as a joint-stock company holding a royal monopoly on English trade with the East Indies. The joint-stock structure let many investors share the risk and return of individual voyages, then of the whole enterprise once permanent, pooled capital replaced voyage-by-voyage subscriptions in the 1650s. Over the following two centuries the Company grew from a trading concern into a quasi-governmental ruler of large parts of India, raising its own armies and administering its own courts, until the 1857 rebellion led the British Crown to assume direct rule and the Company itself was formally dissolved in 1874.

Facts

Founding Year

1600 3

Founding Date

1600-12-31 3

Headquarters

London, England 3

Chronology

Dissolved Year

1874 2

Wikidata Q83164, property P576 (dissolved, abolished or demolished date).

Classification

Institution Subtype

Historic Trading Company 1

Geography

Country or Jurisdiction Served

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 2

Wikidata Q83164, property P17 (country).

FAQs

How did the East India Company come to an end?

Parliament formally dissolved the Company on 1 June 1874 after the Crown took over its Indian territories in 1858.

After the 1857 to 1858 uprising against British rule, the British Crown took full possession of the Company's territories in India in 1858. The Company itself was formally dissolved by Parliament on 1 June 1874.

Connections