The East India Company (also the English East India Company and then the British East India Company) was an early English joint-stock company that was
formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China. The oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies, the Company was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name Governor and Company of Merchants under the chairmanship of Lord Mayor of London To form an association to trade directly with India, by Elizabeth I on
31 December 1600. After a rival English company challenged its monopoly in the late 17th century, the two companies were merged in 1708 to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, commonly styled the Honourable East India Company, and abbreviated, HEIC; the Company was colloquially referred to as John Company, and in India as Company Bahadur (Hindustani bahādur, "brave").
The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpetre, tea, and opium.