British East India Company

Timeline

1. 1600London · LondonElizabeth I granted the East India Company charter, giving shareholders a monopoly on trade with the East Indies and adjacent regions; the company raised capital through shares and was empowered to build armed fleets and fortified trading posts.
2. 1601–1610Indian Ocean and Javanese waters · BantenThe company dispatched armed merchant fleets to the East Indies and the Spice Islands, competing with the Dutch East India Company and establishing temporary trading posts; its main profit model was returning high-value goods such as pepper and spices to England.
3. 1611–1620Surat · SuratAround 1612 the company established permanent trading posts at Surat and elsewhere and obtained trading permits from the Mughal Empire, shifting from purely long-distance voyages to durable footholds on India's west coast, as its monopoly began to intertwine with local political power.