The Honourable Company of London Merchants trading with the East Indies was formed by Royal Charter on New Year's Eve 1600, and soon became known as the East India Company. Although originally formed just to trade, the company realised that it needed to secure and protect trading posts on the Indian subcontinent. Indian rulers began to depend on the gold and silver with which Britain bought their trade goods. The company began to buy land from the Indian rulers on which to build its posts, and established its own standing army and navy to protect them. By pursuing this policy, Britain became the dominant power in India by the end of the 18th century.
The English settled at Mazulipatam on the coast in 1611, but soon left this factory due to conflict with the Dutch factors, and settled at Armagon in 1626. In 1632 the English re-opened their Mazulipatam factory. A few years later The East India Company bought the exposed and waterless site of Madras in 1639. It was the second permanent East India Company trading post, built further south, and was once described as 'the most incommodious place I ever saw'. The popular story is that the company's buyer, Francis Day, bought the land because he had a mistress nearby, and wanted their 'interviews' to be 'more frequent and uninterrupted.' Fort Saint George, beside Madraspatam, was built in 1640. The settlement that grew around Fort Saint George was named Chinapatam, but this name fell into favour of the older name, Madras.
From there they fought with the French for trade supremacy in India. Under Robert Clive ("Clive of India"), the English defeated a combined Indian and French force at Plassey in 1757, and the subcontinent was open to a monopoly by the East India Company.
Above: A 1820 map of south India showing Madras
