East India Company
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A general term for a patent *company that European countries engaged in direct import of products from *India and Southeast Asia and colonial activities from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It was a national monopoly enterprise, and three *companies of Britain, the Netherlands, and France were powerful. Britain established a *company with a patent from Elizabeth I in 1600. In the era of Charles II, it took the form of a modern *corporation.