Established by Royal Charter in 1600, the East India Company quickly came to control over half the world's trade and a quarter of its population. It ruled India, raised its own army and navy, minted its own currency and traded with every corner of the globe.
The structure of this book will be broadly chronological, but it also focuses on particular subjects and incidents - tea, silks, jewellery, cashmere, spices, ships and navigation, battles, communication routes, the opium trade, the English gentleman abroad, India's First War of Independence, etc.
The East India Company is alive and well today and has access to a visual archive of its history, which is used to illustrate the book.
