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By 1857, British India directly or indirectly controlled most of the subcontinent. Which sequence describes the broad trajectory of Company expansion?
ATrade → fortified factories → conflict with local rulers → strategic alliances and wars → annexation → territorial empire
BDirect military invasion → consolidation
CReligious conversion → trade → political control
DNegotiated treaty with Mughal emperor → peaceful expansion
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Trade → fortified factories → conflict with local rulers → strategic alliances and wars → annexation → territorial empire
The Company's transformation from a trading body to a colonial power followed a clear arc: arrive as traders → build fortified factories → conflict with regional powers over privileges → strategic alliances (subsidiary, Doctrine of Lapse) and battles (Plassey, Buxar, Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Maratha, Anglo-Sikh) → outright annexation of state after state. By 1857 it was effectively a territorial empire — controlled by a private chartered Company, not the British Crown, until the revolt that year prompted Crown takeover.
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