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| | East India Company |
 | | ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY, formally (1600-1708) Governor And Company Of Merchants Of London Trading Into The East Indies, or (1708-1873) United Company Of Merchants Of England Trading To The East Indies, English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on Dec. 31, 1600. |
 | | Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. |
 | | Its commercial monopoly was broken in 1813, and from 1834 it was merely a managing agency for the British government of India. |
| www.victorianweb.org /history/empire/eic.html (512 words) |
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