British Arrive in India
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A representative of the British East India Company negotiating a deal with a local Indian trader |
In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I despatched the ship Tyger to the sub-continent to exploit opportunities for trade. Sixteen years after the Tyger sailed to India, Queen Elizabeth granted trading rights to a group of London entrepreneurs. In 1614, the British East India Company opened it’s first office in Bombay.
The British continued to seek concessions from the Mughal rulers and enjoyed unique trading monopoly. By the middle of the 18th century, the British in the guise of East India Company, had become deeply enmeshed in the politics of India and, after the battle of Plassey in 1757, began the systematic conquest of the subcontinent.
