the monopoly of east india company in trade was brought under the control of the british crown in 1858.
the monopoly of east india company in trade was brought under the control of the british crown in 1858.
when was the monopoly of east india company in trade brought under the control of the british crown?
1858
in 1765, robert clive, of the british east india company, became the first british governor of bengal. he secured in perpetuity for the company the "diwani" (revenue and civil justice) of the then bengal subah from the then mughal emperor, shah alam ii and thus the system of dual government was established and the bengal presidency was formed. in 1772 the dual government system was abolished and bengal was brought under direct control of the british. in 1793, when the "nizamat" (military power and criminal justice) of the nawab was also taken away from them, they remained as the mere pensioners of the british east india company. after the revolt of 1857, company rule in india ended and the british crown took over the territories which were under the direct rule of the british east india company in 1858, which marked the beginning of the british raj. these territories, including the territory of the nawab nazims came under the direct rule of the british crown and british raj was established in india. thus, the nawab nizams remained just the titular heads of their territory, which was now ruled by the british crown, and they had no political or any other kind of control over the territory. the last nawab of bengal, mansoor ali khan abdicated on 1 november 1880 in favour of his eldest son.
nawabs of bengal and murshidabad
british india at this time was a proprietary colony run by the east india company, which had been granted the right to rule india by the british crown. india was only one of several proprietary colonies in the british empire around the world, where various corporations or individuals had been granted the right to rule by the crown, with for instance rupert's land, which was a vast tract covering most of what is now canada being ruled by the hudson's bay company, but india was easily the most wealthy and profitable of all the proprietary colonies. by the 19th century, the east india company ruled 90 million indians and controlled 70m acres (243,000 square kilometres) of land under its own flag while issuing its own currency, making it into the most powerful corporation in the world. the east india company had been granted monopolies on trade by the crown, but it was not owned by the crown, through the shares in the east india company were owned by numerous mps and aristocrats, creating a powerful company lobby in parliament while the company regularly gave "gifts" to influential people in britain. the east india company was sufficiently wealthy to maintain the three presidency armies, known after their presidencies as the bengal army, the bombay army and the madras army, with the supreme field headquarters for commanding these armies being at simla. the east india company's army totaled 200,000 men, making it one of the largest armies in the entire world, and was an army larger than those maintained by most european states. the majority of the men serving in the presidency armies were indian, but the officers were all british, trained at the east india company's own officer school at the addiscombe estate outside of london. furthermore, the politically powerful east india company had regiments from the british army sent to india to serve alongside the east india company's army. officers from the british army serving in india tended to look down on officers serving in the company's army as mercenaries and misfits, and relations between the two armies were cool at best.
first anglo-afghan war