EIC Flashcards
1
Q
why was the EIC involved in India?
A
IMP DATES
- goods: spices, silk yarn cloth
- bought raw material (cotton)
- sold industrial products (including coffee tea and Persian horses)
- high-profit trade allowed them to come back (by 1620 had 40 ships)
- spreading Christianity (SM burk)
- churches and chapels + missionaries
- westernization and superiority complex + believed one shelf of British literature was better than all of Indias
- Portuguese and dutch monopoly over east indies
- strategic position & sea routes
- Russian expansion (tried to control Afghanistan)
2
Q
EIC dates
A
1600 founding + permission 1608 first ship anchored at Surat 1612 Mughal permission to trade 1674 HQ at Bombay 1690 HQ at Calcutta
3
Q
Why British gov took over the EIC?
A
- early 19 century
- trade became significant (too valuable to leave with a private company)
- Fear of Russian expansion
- corruption on company officers (conducting private trade & keeping profits)
- colonization
- after the failure of EIC to control WOI British took control in 1858
