The British presence in India started in 1612, twelve years after the granting by Queen Elizabeth the First of a Royal Charter to the 218 Knights and merchants of the City of London who formed a company which received different names but remained in history as “the” East India Company. Although it made little impression on the Dutch control of the spice trade and could not establish a lasting outpost in the East Indies in the early years, it succeeded beyond measure in finally controlling the whole sub-continent… After the Great Mutiny in 1858, the British Government took direct control of its Indian possessions until they regained their independence in 1947, divided between India and Pakistan