1600 - Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I of England. 1612 - Company defeated Portugese in India, and then won trading concessions from the Mughal Empire. 1623 - The Amboina Massacre in which English, Japanese, and Portuguese traders were executed by Dutch authorities. 1708 - monopoly ended, fused with a second trading company to become the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies. More commonly known as the Honorable East India Company, it also continued to trade as the East India Company. 1874 - company dissolved under the English government's East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act. The trading name however continued to exist. 1974 - a group of private investors interested in tea and coffee retail, re-establish the company. 2010 - Sanjiv Mehta purchases the company.