The East India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, establishes trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612.
The company rents a trading outpost in Madras in 1639.
Bombay, which is ceded to the British Crown by Portugal as part of the wedding dowry of Catherine of Braganza in 1661, is in turn granted to the East India Company to be held in trust for the Crown.
Meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the Company establishes its first factory at Hoogly in 1640.
Almost a half-century later, after Emperor Aurengzeb forces the Company out of Hooghly, Calcutta is founded by Job Charnock in 1686.
