East India Company (Cromwell the Great)

The East India Company (EIC) was an English and later British joint-stock company, which was formed to pursue trade with the East Indies but ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and Qing China.

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, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium.

The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, making it the oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies. Wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the company's shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control.

The main competitors of the EIC were the French East India Company, Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), Danish East India Company and Ostend Company.