East India Trade
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
European spice and textile commerce with India and Southeast Asia, sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.
European long-distance commerce with India and Southeast Asia in spices, cotton textiles, saltpetre, indigo, and tea, run mainly by chartered monopolies from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The English East India Company (chartered 31 December 1600) and the Dutch VOC (1602) dominated; cargoes rounded the Cape of Good Hope to London and Amsterdam. The English company’s trade monopoly with India ended in 1813 and with China in 1833; the company was wound up after 1858.
Source: English East India Company charter 31 December 1600; Charter Act 1813 and 1833; VOC charter 1602