The Honourable East India Company (HEIC), often colloquially referred to as "John Company", and simply as the East India Company blank">The East India Company or the "Company Bahadur" in India, was an early joint-stock company (the _Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). It was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31 1600, with the intention of favouring trade privileges in India. The Royal Charter effectively gave the newly created HEIC a 21 year monopoly on all trade in the East Indies. The Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one that virtually ruled India and other Asian colonies as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, until its dissolution in 1858 following the events of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
