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1498
1498
The first direct sea trade route from Europe to Asia was established in 1498. -
1600
On the very last day of 1600, Queen Anne 1 granted a royal charter to some London merchants to have sole ownership of trade with the East Indies. -
1611
Around the year 1611, the British East India Company established its first factory post in Masulipatnam on the Andhra Coast of the Bay of Bengal. -
1670
The EIC was on a mission to expand faster and more efficiently, which led to the company receiving freedom to act as a free entity in 1670. -
1750
The area we call India today made up 25% of the world’s industrial production. The decline of the region started about 150 years before their peak in 1750. -
1757
With the new powers bestowed to the company by the British ruler, the EIC was able to fight the other European merchants in the India region in order to be the largest and most powerful of the groups. It also allowed the EIC to wage war on the states in the Indian region including Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab (governor) of Bengal during the Battle of Plassey in 1757. -
1857
The Sepoy mutiny of 1857 led to the direct control of the territories previously captured by the EIC by the British crown. -
1858
In 1858, the Government of India Act transferred full governing authority from the EIC to the British government. -
1876
18 years later in 1876, Queen Victoria of the British Empire was named empress of India. -
1930
Over the next 71 years, the British rulers were being challenged left and right by their ruled peoples. One such challenge was the Salt March in 1930 which was a nonviolent show of civil disobedience led by Gandhi.