Origin Of The British East India Company, 1903 Print
An old 1903 print shows an agent of the British India Company in the court of the Great Mughal. The Great Mughal depicted here is Akbar, and the Englishman is Sir John Mildenhall. In 1599 the Dutch, who controlled the East India trade, raised the price of pepper. The result was a combination of London merchants, who formed an association to trade directly with India.
The Englishman Sir John Mildenhall is the Ambassador sent by Queen Elizabeth to obtain privileges for the new venture from the Great Mughal Akbar. On December 31, 1600, the East India Company was inaugurated by a Royal Charter. Their first ship was anchored off the coast of Surat, India in 1608.
India was dominated in the north by the Mughal Empire and ruled in the south by independent Muslim and Hindu Kings. With the consent of these rulers, the East India Company established a handful of trading posts along the coast. In 1612 the first factory was established by them in Surat.
The next step was the erection of a fortification in Madras, and was accomplished with Fort St George. In 1690 the British sailed to the banks of the River Hooghly, Calcutta. Job Charnock took on lease three large villages as a trading post for the Company. Consequently, Calcutta would become the capital city of India till 1911. Click on the photo for better view.
Did you know – that pepper changed the course of the history of the world when the Portuguese landed in Calicut in 1498.
From the collection – Raja Ravi Varma’s “Mohini On A Swing” – Vintage Print 1930s., British Era Life In Bangalore – Old Photo 1875., River Cooum & St George’s Bridge Madras, 1900 PC., Sunbeam Car At Bombay Oval Maidan, Print 1916.
