The East India Company has played a crucial role in the development of the world as we know it and is key to the very fabric of British society and culture. In the year 2,000, a major exhibition at the British Library celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of this unique institution.

Established by Royal Charter in 1600, the East India Company quickly came to control over half the world's trade and a quarter of its population. It ruled India, raised its own army and navy, minted its own currency and traded with every corner of the globe.

The structure of the book will be broadly chronological, but also focus on particular subjects and incidents - tea, silks, jewellery, cashmere, spices, ships and navigation, battles, communication routes, the opium trade, the English gentleman abroad, India's First War of Independence, etc.

The East India Company is alive and well today and has access to a visual archive of its history, which would be used to illustrate the book.