The East India Company

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

, also known as the English East India Company and the British East India Company, was a historical English, and later British, company, founded in 1600, and chartered with the monopoly of trading with Southeast Asia, East Asia, and India.

East India Company may also refer to several historical companies of Continental Europe, each chartered with a similar monopoly of trade:

• Dutch East India Company
  Dutch East India Company
  The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
  
  , founded in 1602
• Danish East India Company
  Danish East India Company
  The Danish East India Company was a Danish chartered company.-History:It was founded in 1616, following a privilege of Danish King Christian IV....
  
  , founded in 1616
• Portuguese East India Company
  Portuguese East India Company
  - Background :Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the yearly India...
  
  , founded in 1628
• French East India Company
  French East India Company
  The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
  
  , founded in 1664
• Swedish East India Company
  Swedish East India Company
  The Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East...
  
  , founded in 1731