The East India Company played a major part in the growth of Britain's empire. Its functions went beyond those of a trading concern and merged military force, government and colonization with economic expansion. This six-volume work covers the history of the Company from its origins in 1599-1600. This comprehensive collection contains reprinted first-hand sources, scholarly surveys, and thematically arranged collections of recent journal articles, offering scholarly coverage of the most important phases of the Company's history, and presenting recent interpretations of its development.