ABSTRACT
For nearly a century, the East India Company had survived the vicissitudes of Indian political intrigues, oftentimes as a willing participant, sometimes as a political pawn. No one could have anticipated that the British would one day become the paramount power in all of South Asia. As late as 1760, it is unlikely that any observer – British or Indian – could have realistically prophesized that within forty years the British would eectively come to rule the entire subcontinent. A few within the East India Company were surely contemplating the possibility of local, perhaps provincial stewardship, but there was no thought of empire. e Company’s primary focus was on the bottom line – prot – which was tied to trade and not conquest.
