Beginning in the early seventeenth century, English (later British) agents were active in the Indian Ocean, trading manufactured goods for cotton, silk, and indigo (among other goods). Formed in 1600, the joint-stock East India Company oversaw much of this trade, which involved the establishment of trading forts across South Asia, which operated as sovereign spheres of English authority and required the maintenance of diplomatic relations with local polities. Eventually, the Company became a powerful political institution in both Europe and in South Asia. Between 1756 and 1858, the Company ruled as the sovereign form of government in India until 1858, when the British Crown dissolved the Company's authority and began ruling the colony directly.
The sources here provide a glimpse of various elements of Britain's rule in India, including agriculture, the slave trade, and taxation. Most of the documents focus on the nineteenth century.
