This next stop might seem rather insignificant, but historically, it’s really interesting. The British East India Company was an English joint-stock company. It was granted an English royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600. Some people consider it the world’s first corporation. It was originally planning to trade in spices but that didn’t work out too well as the Dutch were well entrenched in that trade. They competed with the Dutch, Portuguese and French in the East Indies and China. Eventually, they traded in cotton, silk, indigo dye, tea, saltpeter, and opium. The company merged and changed over the years, but eventually, the East India Company went on to rule the entire country of India. It had its ups and downs but was a major force in India for over 200 years.

Our guide said that the office of the British East India Company was in St. John’s Church. We found that strange, but he said that the East India Company built St. John’s Church. The church was one of the first public buildings in Kolkata. So with few options for a place to locate their offices and since the church was the Anglican Church or Church of England, it only made sense. If you look at the first photo, you can see St. John’s Church. If you look at the sign to the right of the St. John’s Church sign, the window right behind that sign is the window of the East India company office.

The second photo is the office of the British East India Company. I looked online on the computer and only found a reference to this office being the office of Warren Hastings. He worked for the East India Company and was the first governor-general of British India. It also looked like they played a little bit of cards at the table when they weren’t conducting East India Company business.

St. John’s Church was often called the Stone Church and it included a 174 foot stone tower modeled after a church tower in England. You can see the tower in the third photo which was taken from the roof of the church.