British East India CompanyThe British East India Company began as a trading enterprise created for the British to pursue trade with the East Indies, particularly the Indian subcontinent. Queen Elizabeth of England had issued a royal charter for this company, which allowed the East India Company to gain substantial power in India. James Lancaster's voyage to the East Indies led to the founding of the East India Company (Halliday 106). The attraction for the Indies began in the 15th century during the spice trade. The first English expedition to pursue trade in India failed due to Portuguese and Dutch control of the spice trade. James Lancaster was one of the few to return from the trip. The expedition was unprofitable and those who returned lacked ships (Sears 44). The British and Dutch gained greater access to the spice trade after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Previously, "the Spanish and Portuguese had a monopoly on the spice trade in the East Indies" (Landow, "The British East India Company"). The Dutch were aggressive, chasing away English traders interested in the spice market. English influence on the spice trade in the East Indies was limited to a port on the south coast of Sumatra (Spielvogel 421). Queen Elizabeth signed the charter of the East India Company on December 31, 1600. Although the charter was "merely a royal assent to a commercial enterprise", it would soon lead to British rule in India. The London merchants who formed the company intended to attract wealth from India through trade, not conquest (Sears 44). 125 merchants invested around 72,000 pounds for the creation of the East India Company, a company which involved shares being divided into a number of shares...... middle of paper ...... Sepoy Mutiny . Subsequently, the British government took control of India, making it a British colony (Caswell, Regents Prep). Works Cited Halliday, Frank E. A Concise History of England from Stonehenge to the Atomic Age. New York: Viking Press, 1964. Print. Landow, George P. “The British East India Company – The Company That Owned a Nation (or Two).” » The Victorian Web, September 20, 2013. Web. February 24, 2014. Marshall, Peter. “The British Presence in India in the 18th Century.” BBC, February 17, 2011. Web, February 24, 2014. Sears, Stephen W. The Horizon History of the British Empire. Rockville: American HeritagePublishing Company, 1973. Print.Spielvogel, Jackson J. World History. Orion Place: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.