East India Company

What it was: The East India Company was chartered by Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600 as a company of London merchants trading to the East Indies. After Plassey in 1757 it won territory, and in 1765 the Mughal emperor gave it the right to collect revenue in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. By the time it turned to the Punjab it was a government with its own army.

Its dealings with Lahore: The Treaty of Amritsar, signed on 25 April 1809 and ratified on 30 May by Governor-General Lord Minto's council, promised lasting friendship between the Company and Maharaja Ranjit Singh's state and made the Sutlej the limit of his reach to the south. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says it stopped a single Sikh state of the Majha and Malwa, and left Ranjit Singh free to expand north and west. After his death in 1839 the Lahore court weakened, and the Company's armies and the Khalsa met in two wars.

Leaders, in order: The Company's government in India was headed by its Governor-General. Lord Minto held that post at the 1809 treaty and Lord Dalhousie at the 1849 annexation. After the first war Henry Lawrence was appointed Resident at the Sikh court.

Key moments

• 25 April 1809: the Treaty of Amritsar fixes the Sutlej frontier.
• 11 December 1845: the Khalsa army crosses the Sutlej. Battles follow at Mudki (18 December), Ferozeshah (21 to 22 December), Aliwal (28 January 1846) and Sobraon (10 February 1846), and the Treaty of Lahore ends the war.
• April 1848: two Company officers are killed at Multan, and the second war begins. Chillianwala (13 January 1849) is followed by Gujrat (21 February 1849), and the remnants of the Sikh army surrender at Rawalpindi on 14 March.
• 29 March 1849: Dalhousie's proclamation declares the Punjab kingdom at an end and Duleep Singh is deposed. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls the proclamation's charges against the Sikhs factually unsustainable. Scroll gives 2 April 1849 for the formal incorporation into British India, and says the Punjab army was disbanded.
• 7 December 1849: the Governor-General receives the Koh-i-Noor from Dr John Login by a dated receipt. It was presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850.
• 1851: the Punjab Irregular Force is raised, outside the command of the Company's three armies.

After the conquest: In 1857 Punjabi Sikh soldiers supported the Company against the revolt, and the British afterwards encouraged recruiting Punjabi Sikhs. The National Army Museum says Sikhs were called a "martial race" and supplied a disproportionate share of recruits.

Where it stands: Company rule ended with the Government of India Act 1858, which passed India to the Crown. The Company itself was formally dissolved on 1 June 1874. It no longer exists.