East India Company

American  

noun

1. the company chartered by the English government in 1600 to carry on trade in the East Indies: dissolved in 1874.

2. any similar company, as one chartered by the Dutch (1602–1798), the French (1664–1769), or the Danes (1729–1801).

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East India Company British  

noun

1. the company chartered in 1600 by the British government to trade in the East Indies: after being driven out by the Dutch, it developed trade with India until the Indian Mutiny (1857), when the Crown took over the administration: the company was dissolved in 1874

2. any similar trading company, such as any of those founded by the Dutch, French, and Danes in the 17th and 18th centuries

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

East India Company

The letter from the owner of the cargo, the East India Company, to the British government gives a breakdown of the tea destroyed on December 16, 1773 by American colonists.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

The history of global corporations arguably began in 1600, when a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I granted the British East India Company a monopoly on Asian sea trade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

The shocking history of the East India Company, which transformed itself from an international trading company into an aggressive colonial power between 1600 and 1874, is a classic example.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2024

The East India Company had a close association with the Wordsworth family, and it is believed that John Wordsworth embarked on a life at sea to help support his brother's writing career.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2024

We know from a mid-seventeenth-century account of an “Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, to the Grand Tartar, Cham, Emperor of China.”

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan