A British company which traded commodities such as cotton, indigo, salt, spices, tea and opium in the Indian Ocean region, including parts of the Indian subcontinent, west Asia and South East Asia. It was established by royal charter of the British Crown on 31 December 1600 and expanded its commercial interests through political intervention and control, eventually facilitating British imperial rule in the subcontinent. It was absorbed by the colonial government in 1858 and dissolved in 1874.