The East India Company was a British trading company formed on December 31, 1600 for the exploitation of trade opportunities in the East Indies. They acted as agents of the British imperialism in India from the early 18th to mid-19th centuries. The Company's ships first arrived in India, at the port of Surat, in Gujarat in 1608. As the Britishers? saw the massive expansion for their trading operations in India and were convinced of settling various trading posts along the east and the west coasts and these considerable English settlements developed around the three presidency towns of Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai.