East India Trading Company

"Had a brush with the East India Trading company, did we, pirate?"

- Commodore James Norrington to Jack Sparrow

The East India Trading Company, otherwise known as the British East India Company or the John Company, was a joint stock company that came to monopolise trade in the East Indies and the Caribbean. The company was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600.

The company was based in London, and represented in the Caribbean by Lord Cutler Beckett, who ultimately based himself in Port Royal after the arrest of Elizabeth Swann and William Turner. Beckett also called for the arrest of former Commodore James Norrington and Captain Jack Sparrow. The latter had once been employed by the East India Company, but had been outlawed after refusing to transport slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. Sparrow's ship, Wicked Wench, had been sunk by Beckett's men, and Sparrow himself had been branded with the mark of a pirate. In turn, Jack left his own mark on Beckett.

Despite its original, noble goal of promoting trade in the Indies, the East India Company under Lord Beckett focused on the elimination of all pirates, feeling their kind did not fit into the company's vision of the New World.

Known employees

 * Lord Cutler Beckett
 * Mercer
 * Jack Sparrow

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean 3