Answer in detail:

Give an account of the English East India Company in India.

The English East India Company was established in 1600 with the purpose of trading with the East. It was initially started by the 100 London merchants who acquired the permission from the Queen Elizabeth-I. Gradually, in the name of the trade, they have taken complete control of India. Some of the points which give us information about the rule of the English East India Company in India are as follows:-

• They completely took over the power of government and established a monopoly of trade. They used their power to take over the trade of India completely. India was fully exploited as a market and as the producer of raw material for British goods. They were forced to import finished goods.

• To increase their revenue, they established many industries. They used the revenues of Bengal so that they could finance exports to England. This led to the drain of India’s wealth.

• They imposed heavy import duty on the Indian products. The Britishers also introduced machine made and cheap goods in India which made Indian traders lose their trade in the foreign market as well as in India.

• They made many Indian rulers to sign the subsidiary alliance which helped them increase their power. Subsidiary Alliance was a treaty according to which the Britishers would provide their military help to the Indian rulers. This, in turn, benefitted EIC (East India Company) as they gradually took over many states like this.

• Finally, in 1858 under the Indian Act of 1858 East India Company removed from power, and the British government took over the administration of India.