British East India Company
Company
| British East India Company link () | |
|---|---|
| File:British East India Company2.jpg | |
| Formation | 31 December 1600 |
| Founders | John Watts, George White |
| Interests | Drug trade |
| Once the biggest opium trader in the world. | |
The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), East India Trading Company (EITC), the English East India Company or (after 1707) the British East India Company, was an English, and later British trading company formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. It accounted for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s. The company traded in basic commodities including: cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre and tea which mainly went to Britain and other regions of the commonwealth. In turn, Opium was grown in the colonies to finance that trade, leading to the first and second opium war with China.
