Dan Snow travels through India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionised the British lifestyle and laid the foundations of today's global trading systems.

By 1800 the East India Company had grown from a tiny band of merchants into a colossal trading empire, but scandal and corruption in the 18th century had led to a curtailment of its powers by the British Government. The State now controlled the Company's affairs in India and, throughout the 19th century, would chip away at its remaining powers and trading privileges.