hen a group of merchants and explorers met in London to form the East India Company (EIC) in 1600 they couldn’t have conceived it would eventually own one of the largest private military forces in colonial history. The EIC was founded to trade in Asian goods and produce and it created trading posts along the Indian coastline during the 17th century. It prospered by buying land from local rulers, and such was the EIC’s success that guards were employed to protect its trading
