The East India Company

Established by Royal Charter in 1600, the East India Company was, and remains to this day, the largest and most powerful multinational business the world has ever seen. It controlled over half the world's trade and a quarter of its population. It singlehandedly ruled India, raised its own army and navy, minted its own currency, and traded with every corner of the globe. It also trafficked in opium, greed, and brutal oppression, sowing the seeds that would lead to its downfall -- and absorption by the British Crown. The East India Company describes how the Honourable Company created its extraordinary trading empire by introducing an exotic cache of tea, silks, porcelain, cashmere, and spices to a luxury-starved England. It also explains how the company conducted its day-to-day business at home and in the East, through colorful figures such as Captain James Skinner and John Nicholson; how the opulent daily life of East India Company rulers amongst the ruled led to the Mutiny ; and why India's first war of independence spelled an end not only to the company itself, but, eventually, to an entire empire.