When he met Jahangir, he presented marvellous gifts to him. Jahangir was impressed by the gifts. So Jahangir issued a Royal Edict, a royal order stating that the English were permitted to set up factories in Surat. Not only this, the East India Company was given some exclusive rights as well. Marking territories where the EIC would be the sole trader in exchange of an annual payment to the Mughal emperor.
And so, East India Company’s factory was finally established in Surat. Over the next few decades, several other factories were established. Madras, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Agra, Patna, the Company’s business was flourishing.
Their profits were increasingly good. By trading in cotton, indigo, silk, salt, and later in things like opium and tea. The cities where their factories were set up, economic prosperity was seen in abundance.
More people were attracted to these cities. The EIC slowly started to form a monopoly in these cities. They start building fortified bases. Till then, most of the factories of the EIC, where in the Western and South-Eastern coasts of the Indian subcontinent. They now wanted to establish their factories all over Mughal territories. Especially in the East, in Bengal. Back then, Bengal meant, present-day West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Odisha combined. Commercially, it was an immensely successful region at the time.
