Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata’s past, February 13, 1601

On this day, the English East India Company’s first fleet of four ships sailed from Woolwich, bound for the pepper-producing islands of Java and Sumatra.

The voyage was led by James Lancaster, a member of the East India Company formed the previous year by a royal charter. It granted the company monopoly over English trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan.

On this voyage, Queen Elizabeth I had instructed the merchants to carry with them Britain’s first international trade coin, known as Portcullis Money.

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