The charter of the British East India Trading Company, also known as the East India Company, granted it several key permissions and powers:
1. Trading rights: The charter gave the East India Company the exclusive right to trade in the East Indies, including India, for an initial period of 15 years. This gave the company a monopoly over English trade in the region.
2. Territorial control: The company was granted the right to acquire and administer territories, raise armies, make war and peace, and exercise judicial functions in the areas where it operated. This allowed the company to gradually expand its political and economic control over parts of the Indian subcontinent.
3. Governance powers: The charter empowered the company to appoint governors, judges, and other officials to administer the territories under its control. This enabled the company to establish its own system of governance and administration in its trading posts and colonies.
4. Legal privileges: The company was granted the right to make laws, regulations, and ordinances for the good government and management of the company and its factories, settlements, and trade.
5. Tax collection: The company was authorized to collect customs duties and other taxes from the local populations in the areas it controlled.
Over time, the East India Company's powers expanded significantly, allowing it to transform from a trading company into a colonial power that eventually controlled large parts of the Indian subcontinent before the British Crown took direct control in 1858.