East India Company facts for kids
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Company flag (1801)
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Coat of arms (1698)
Motto: Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliae Latin for "By command of the King and Parliament of England" |
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| Public State-owned enterprise |
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| Industry | International trade |
| Fate | Nationalised:
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| Founded | 31 December 1600 |
| Founders |
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| Defunct | 1 June 1874 |
| Headquarters | East India House, , |
| Products | Cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, slave trade |
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia.
The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world. The EIC had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three Presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British army at the time. The operations of the company had a profound effect on the global balance of trade, almost single-handedly reversing the trend of eastward drain of Western bullion, seen since Roman times.
Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies", the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, and tea. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India.
The company eventually came to rule large areas of India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company rule in India effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey and lasted until 1858. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of India in the form of the new British Raj.
Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances. The company was dissolved in 1874 as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act.
Contents
Formation
In 1599, a group of prominent merchants and explorers met to discuss a potential East Indies venture under a royal charter. The group included Ralph Fitch, James Lancaster, Stephen Soame, then Lord Mayor of London; Thomas Smythe, a powerful London politician and administrator who had established the Levant Company; Richard Hakluyt, writer and proponent of British colonisation of the Americas; and several other sea-farers who had served with Drake and Raleigh.
On 22 September, the group stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper)" and to themselves invest £30,133 (over £4,000,000 in today's money). Two days later, the "Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project. Although their first attempt had not been completely successful, they sought the Queen's unofficial approval to continue. They bought ships for the venture and increased their investment to £68,373.
They convened again a year later, on 31 December 1600, and this time they succeeded; the Queen responded favourably to their petition. For a period of fifteen years, the charter awarded the company a monopoly on English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Any traders there without a licence from the company were liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo (half of which would go to the Crown and half to the company), as well as imprisonment at the "royal pleasure".
The charter named Thomas Smythe as the first governor of the company.
Symbols
Flags
- Historical depictions
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Downman (1685)
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Lens (1700)
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National Geographic (1917)
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Rees (1820)
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Laurie (1842)
- Modern depictions
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1600–1707
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1707–1801
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1801–1874
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The English East India Company flag changed over time, with a canton based on the flag of the contemporary Kingdom, and a field of 9-to-13 alternating red and white stripes.
From 1600, the canton consisted of a St George's Cross representing the Kingdom of England. With the Acts of Union 1707, the canton was changed to the new Union Flag—consisting of an English St George's Cross combined with a Scottish St Andrew's cross—representing the Kingdom of Great Britain. After the Acts of Union 1800 that joined Ireland with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the canton of the East India Company flag was altered accordingly to include a Saint Patrick's Saltire.
There has been much debate about the number and order of stripes in the field of the flag. Historical documents and paintings show variations from 9-to-13 stripes, with some images showing the top stripe red and others showing it white.
At the time of the American Revolution the East India Company flag was nearly identical to the Grand Union Flag. Historian Charles Fawcett argued that the East India Company Flag inspired the Stars and Stripes of America.
Coat of arms
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The East India Company's original coat of arms was granted in 1600. The blazon of the arms is as follows: "Azure, three ships with three masts, rigged and under full sail, the sails, pennants and ensigns Argent, each charged with a cross Gules; on a chief of the second a pale quarterly Azure and Gules, on the 1st and 4th a fleur-de-lis or, on the 2nd and 3rd a leopard or, between two roses Gules seeded Or barbed Vert." The shield had as a crest: "A sphere without a frame, bounded with the Zodiac in bend Or, between two pennants flottant Argent, each charged with a cross Gules, over the sphere the words "Deus indicat" (Latin: God Indicates). The supporters were two sea lions (lions with fishes' tails) and the motto was Deo ducente nil nocet (Latin: Where God Leads, Nothing Harms).
The East India Company's later arms, granted in 1698, were: "Argent a cross Gules; in the dexter chief quarter an escutcheon of the arms of France and England quarterly, the shield ornamentally and regally crowned Or." The crest was: "A lion rampant guardant Or holding between the forepaws a regal crown proper." The supporters were: "Two lions rampant guardant Or, each supporting a banner erect Argent, charged with a cross Gules." The motto was Auspicio regis et senatus angliæ (Latin: Under the auspices of the King and the Parliament of England).
Merchant mark
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HEIC Merchant's mark on a Blue Scinde Dawk postage stamp (1852)
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1 Pice (1⁄64 Rupee) copper coin of the Bombay Presidency with bale mark (1821)
When the East India Company was chartered in 1600, it was still customary for individual merchants or members of companies such as the Company of Merchant Adventurers to have a distinguishing merchant's mark which often included the mystical "Sign of Four" and served as a trademark. The East India Company's merchant mark consisted of a "Sign of Four" atop a heart within which was a saltire between the lower arms of which were the initials "EIC". This mark was a central motif of the East India Company's coinage and forms the central emblem displayed on the Scinde Dawk postage stamps.
Ships
Ships of the East India Company were called East Indiamen or simply "Indiamen". Their names were sometimes prefixed with the initials "HCS", standing for "Honourable Company's Service" or "Honourable Company's Ship", such as HCS Vestal (1809) and HCS Intrepid (1780).
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the East India Company arranged for letters of marque for its vessels such as Lord Nelson. This was not so that they could carry cannon to fend off warships, privateers, and pirates on their voyages to India and China (that they could do without permission) but so that, should they have the opportunity to take a prize, they could do so without being guilty of piracy. Similarly, Earl of Mornington, an East India Company packet ship of only six guns, also sailed under a letter of marque.
In addition, the company had its own navy, the Bombay Marine, equipped with warships such as Grappler. These vessels often accompanied vessels of the Royal Navy on expeditions, such as the Invasion of Java.
At the Battle of Pulo Aura, which was probably the company's most notable naval victory, Nathaniel Dance, Commodore of a convoy of Indiamen and sailing aboard the Warley, led several Indiamen in a skirmish with a French squadron, driving them off. Some six years earlier, on 28 January 1797, five Indiamen, Woodford, under Captain Charles Lennox, Taunton-Castle, Captain Edward Studd, Canton, Captain Abel Vyvyan, Boddam, Captain George Palmer, and Ocean, Captain John Christian Lochner, had encountered Admiral de Sercey and his squadron of frigates. On this occasion the Indiamen succeeded in bluffing their way to safety, and without any shots even being fired. Lastly, on 15 June 1795, General Goddard played a large role in the capture of seven Dutch East Indiamen off St Helena.
East Indiamen were large and strongly built, and when the Royal Navy was desperate for vessels to escort merchant convoys, it bought several of them to convert to warships. Earl of Mornington became HMS Drake. Other examples include:
- HMS Calcutta
- HMS Glatton
- HMS Hindostan (1795)
- HMS Hindostan (1804)
- HMS Malabar
- HMS Buffalo
Their design as merchant vessels meant that their performance in the warship role was underwhelming and the Navy converted them to transports.
Records
Unlike all other British Government records, the records from the East India Company (and its successor the India Office) are not in The National Archives at Kew, London, but are held by the British Library in London as part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections. The catalogue is searchable online in the Access to Archives catalogues. Many of the East India Company records are freely available online under an agreement that the Families in British India Society has with the British Library. Published catalogues exist of East India Company ships' journals and logs, 1600–1834; accompanying catalogues also cover the company's daughter institutions, including the East India Company College, Haileybury, and Addiscombe Military Seminary.
The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies, first issued in 1816, was sponsored by the East India Company, and includes much information relating to its work.
Early governors
- 1600–1601: Sir Thomas Smythe (first governor)
- 1601–1602: Sir John Watts
- 1602–1603: Sir John Hart
- 1603–1606: Sir Thomas Smythe (re-elected)
- 1606–1607: Sir William Romney
- 1607–1621: Sir Thomas Smythe (re-elected)
- 1621–1624: Sir William Halliday
- 1624–1638: Sir Maurice (Morris) Abbot
- 1638–1641: Sir Christopher Clitherow
Images for kids
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James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601
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Red Dragon fought the Portuguese at the Battle of Swally in 1612, and made several voyages to the East Indies
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The emperor Jahangir investing a courtier with a robe of honour, watched by Sir Thomas Roe, English ambassador to the court of Jahangir at Agra from 1615 to 1618, and others
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Document with the original vermilion seal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, granting trade privileges in Japan to the East India Company in 1613
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French illustration of Sir Josiah Child requesting a pardon from the Emperor Aurangzeb
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Rear view of the East India Company's Factory at Cossimbazar
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Company painting depicting an official of the East India Company, c. 1760
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The East offering its riches to Britannia - Roma Spiridone, 1778 - BL Foster 245
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Engraving of East India House, Leadenhall Street (1766)
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The expanded East India House, London, painted by Thomas Malton, c. 1800
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Addiscombe Seminary, photographed in c.1859, with cadets in the foreground
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English, Dutch and Danish factories at Mocha
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An 18th-century depiction of Henry Every, with the Fancy shown engaging its prey in the background
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British pirates that fought during the Child's War engaging the Ganj-i-Sawai
See also
In Spanish: Compañía Británica de las Indias Orientales para niños
East India Company
- Category:Honourable East India Company regiments
- Category:Medals of the Honourable East India Company
- Company rule in India
- Advocate-General of Bengal
- Chief Justice of Bengal
- Chief Justice of Madras
- Economy of India under Company rule
- Governor-General of India
- Indian independence movement
- Indian Rebellion of 1857
- Presidency armies
- List of East India Company directors
- List of trading companies
- East India Company Cemetery in Macau
General
- Anglo-Nepalese war (1814–1816)
- British Imperial Lifeline
- Carnatic Wars
- Commercial Revolution
- Lascar
- Persian Gulf Residency
- Political warfare in British colonial India
- Trade between Western Europe and the Mughal Empire in the 17th century
- Whampoa anchorage
Other
