In transcribing the following paragraphs from the Internet Archive online version of The Imperial Gazetteer’s entry on British India — modern South Asia — I have expanded the divided the long entry into separate documents, expanded abbreviations for easier reading, and added paragraphing and links to material in the Victorian Web. The charts are in the original. This discussion of British India has particular importance because it immediately precedes the 1857 Mutiny and the subsequent major shift in its status as it came under the direct control of the British government rather than that of the East India Company, a private company.— George P. Landow]
The End of the East India Company exclusive right to trade with China
In April, 1834, the exclusive right of the East India Company to trade with China, &c., ceased; and Europeans may now proceed by sea to any part of British India without a license, though some restrictions still exist to their liberty to enter the territories of the Company by land. Foreign ships may enter at any of the ports, but they are not privileged to convey freight from one port to another. [II, 1274]
Bibliography
Blackie, Walker Graham. The Imperial Gazetteer: A General Dictionary of Geography, Physical, Political, Statistical and Descriptive. 4 vols. London: Blackie & Son, 1856. Internet Archive. Inline version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 7 November 2018.
Last modified 5 December 2018