Fall of the East India Company

The British East India Company (1600-1874) was the largest and most successful private enterprise ever created. All-powerful wherever it colonised, the EIC’s use of its own private army and increasing territorial control, particularly in India, meant that it faced ever-greater scrutiny from the British government in the late 18th century. Restricted by several successive acts of Parliament over many decades because of allegations of corruption and unaccountability, the EIC’s independence ended with the chaos of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-8. The British Crown replaced the EIC’s board of directors as the rulers of British India, and Parliament officially dissolved the EIC in 1874.