Company rule in India
India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1757/1765/1773–1858 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Areas of South Asia under Company rule (a) 1774–1804 and (b) 1805–1858 shown in two shades of pink | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Colony and Princely states | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Calcutta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | 1773–1858: English 1773–1836: Persian 1837–1858: primarily Urdu, then called, "Hindustani," but also: Languages of South Asia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Administered by the East India Company functioning as a quasi-sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown and regulated by the British Parliament | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Governor-General | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1774–1785 (first Fort William) | Warren Hastings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1834–1835 (first India) | Lord William Bentinck | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1857–1858 (last) | Charles Canning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 June 1757 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 August 1765 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1767–1799 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1772–1818 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1845–1846, 1848–1849 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 August 1858 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Nationalisation of the Company and assumption of direct administration by the British crown | 1 November 1858 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1858 | 1,940,000 km2 (750,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Rupee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | India Pakistan Bangladesh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Company rule in India (also known as the Company Raj, from Hindi rāj, lit. 'rule') refers to regions of the Indian subcontinent under the control of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC, founded in 1600, established its first trading post in India in 1612, and gradually expanded its presence in the region over the following decades. During the Seven Years' War, the East India Company began a process of rapid expansion in India, which resulted in most of the subcontinent falling under its rule by 1857, when the Indian Rebellion of 1857 broke out. After the rebellion was suppressed, the Government of India Act 1858 resulted in the EIC's territories in India being administered by the Crown instead. The India Office managed the EIC's former territories, which became known as the British Raj.
The range of dates is taken to have commenced either in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud-Daulah was defeated and replaced with Mir Jafar, who had the support of the East India Company; or in 1765, when the Company was granted the diwani, or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar; or in 1773, when the Company abolished local rule (Nizamat) in Bengal and established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General of Fort William, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance. The East India Company significantly expanded its influence throughout the Indian subcontinent after the Anglo-Mysore Wars, Anglo-Maratha Wars, and Anglo-Sikh Wars. Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor General of India in 1834 under the Government of India Act 1833.