The East India Company’s flagship store in Mayfair, London | Image:
Tripadvisor
New Delhi: The East India Company, a name once synonymous with global trade dominance and colonial rule – has ceased operations for the second time in its long history, this time as a luxury retail brand in London, bringing an unusual chapter in corporate and colonial history to a close.
Originally founded on December 31, 1600, under a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, the English trading company began as a merchant venture for spices and goods from India. Over centuries it evolved into one of the world’s most powerful commercial and political forces, commanding vast territories in the Indian subcontinent, maintaining its own army and…