Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the English East India Company, giving it a monopoly of English trade with the East, on 31 December of the year:

Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a charter to the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies" (the English East India Company) on 31 December 1600.

About the charter:

• It gave the Company the sole right (monopoly) to trade with the East (the lands east of the Cape of Good Hope) for 15 years.
• No other English merchants could trade in this region without the Company's permission.
• The Company was a joint-stock company, owned by merchants who bought shares in it.

NCERT on the charter:

• NCERT notes that in 1600, the East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I, granting it the sole right to trade with the East.
• This meant that no other trading group in England could compete with the East India Company.
• However, the royal charter could not prevent other European powers from entering the Eastern markets.

NCERT notes that by the time the first English ships sailed down the west coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had already established their presence in the western coast of India, and had their base in Goa.

Early voyages:

• The Company's first voyages went mainly to the spice islands of South-East Asia (present-day Indonesia).
• It later turned its attention to India, where it set up its first factory at Surat in the early 17th century, with the permission of the Mughal emperor.

Other European trading companies:

• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded in 1602.
• The French East India Company was founded in 1664.

Why not the other options?

• ✗1588 was the year of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
• ✗1613 and 1640 relate to later English settlements in India.