Hist 4339

British Expansion in South Asia and the Turn to the Great Game

• 1600: Queen Elizabeth I grants EIC charter for trade with Asia

• EIC absorbed into existing commercial systems

• 1690: EIC base in Calcutta (Bengal)

• 18^th c: gradual shift from focus on peaceful trade to military conquest

• 1757: Battle of Plassey

• EIC reorganization as administrative and territorial power

• 1803: EIC capture of Delhi and Mughal Emperor

• Development of system of direct and indirect rule, based on collaboration

• 1857 Uprising/“Mutiny”/“Rebellion

• 1858: British Crown takeover of India, end of EIC rule

• Possibility of external threat from Russian empire: Great Game