Before the beginning of the formal rule of the Britishers in India, there was a background
of Indo-European economic relationship. The British East India Company
sometimes referred to as “John Company”, was a Joint- Stock Company established
in 1600, as The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies.
During this time, other trading companies, established by the Portuguese, Dutch,
French, and Danish were similarly expanding in the region.
The British Company
gained footing in India in 1612 after Mughal emperor Jahangir granted the rights to
establish a factory (a trading post) in Surat to Sir Thomas Roe, a representative
diplomat of Queen Elizabeth Ist of England. The formal British rule in India is understood
to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of
Bengal surrendered his dominions to the British East India Company. Henceforth the
British Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to a political entity
which virtually ruled India.
