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24th August 1608: The First Representative of the East India Company Lands in Surat

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 8/24/2021 1:59:19 PM

On 24th August 1608, the first representative of the East India landed in Surat for purposes of trade. The East India Company was a British joint stock company founded in 1600 to carry out trade with the East Indies (a term used to refer to South and South East Asia), but primarily ended up carrying out trade with the Indian subcontinent, the North West Frontier provinces and Balochistan. The East India Company primarily traded in silk, indigo dye, cotton, tea and opium. The company was also one among the oldest European East India companies and was granted the Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. Shares of the East India Company were held by affluent members of society, such as rich merchants and wealthy aristocrats. The Government of Britain held no shares of the company and had no direct control over their operation. Even though the East India Company came to India as traders, they eventually gained control over large areas of the country using their private army. Officially, the rule of the East India Company in India began in 1757, after the Battles of Plassey and Buxar. The rule of the East India Company was brought to an end in 1858 after the Indian First War of Independence (also known as the Indian Rebellion) in 1857. Following the dissolution of the East India Company from India, the British Crown too overtook direct control of India to begin what is known as the British Raj. The East India Company gained a footing in India in 1612 after then Mughal ruler Jahangir gave the Company rights to build a factory and trading port in Surat (present day Gujarat). Following this, the East India Company got similar permission from the Vijayanagara Empire in the South of India and set up their second factory in Madras. Twenty years later, the East India Company spread its presence to the East of India by setting up a factory in Kolkata. Around the same time, other European traders like the French, Portuguese and the Dutch were also trying to expand their presence in India, but it were the British who succeeded in firmly anchoring their presence in India for the longest time to come. By the end of the 17th century, India became an important country for the East India Company. Cotton woven in India was considered of extremely high quality and a large quantity of it was exported to Britain. This cloth was produced in factories and trading ports directly under British jurisdiction. By the 1750’s, the East India Company began intervening in Indian politics. The Mughal Empire was in its twilight years, which gave way to the emergence of regional.