East India Company

Founded in 1600, dissolved in 1874. Traded in cotton, silk, tea and spices and, over time, came to rule over large parts of the Indian subcontinent.

The East India Company started when Queen Elizabeth I granted 218 merchants a monopoly in trading goods to the east of the Cape of Good Hope. Back then, the company established new ways of trading such as offering limited liabilities to shareholders meaning that each shareholder in the company has a financial liability which is limited to a fixed sum. Therefore the person is not liable for debts the company has but only for the amount which has been invested in the business.

In 1608 the first ship finally arrived in Surat and in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe asserted the right for the British to establish a trading post in that city. Over the years, the British expanded trade in India. As a result more and more branches were established along the east and west coast of India with British denizens settling down in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. The greatest success was recorded in 1717 when a decree from the Mughal Emperor stated that the Company was exempted from the payment of custom duties in Benegal.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/EAco.html