British East India Company, 1780   Background Guide Description This committee will recreate the dynamics of the British East India Company in the year 1780, addressing the diverse problems that accompany the company’s rapid and volatile shift from trading company to rogue colonial state. At the time the committee meets, the East India Company is on the verge of the possibility of becoming an imperial presence while still struggling with the economics of their monopoly over Indian trade. In that year the company was deeply in debt to the British parliament, to the point where its self-destruction seemed imminent. Ideas under considerationfor dealing with the debt include opium trade with China, heavy land taxes, and enforced growth of cash crops such as indigo by the peasantry. The already-instituted plans for land revenue reform are resulting in widespread famines and peasant unrest. At the same time, there is great uncertainty as to the nature of the Company’s power itself – should it be preserved or extended, and to what extent? Perhaps more importantly, how can it be maintained? With what authority can the British East India Company rule in India? Staff Chair: Priya Murthy Crisis Director: Lucas Martin