Short answers, pulled from the story.
The East India Company was founded on the 31st of December 1600 when Queen Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to 218 merchants including James Lancaster and Thomas Smythe. This charter created the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and granted a fifteen-year monopoly on all English commerce east of the Cape of Good Hope.
The seizure of the Portuguese carrack named the Madre de Deus in 1592 transformed the financial landscape of Elizabethan England and laid the groundwork for the East India Company. This event provided the capital and knowledge necessary to break the Spanish and Portuguese duopoly on the spice trade.
The East India Company transitioned from a trading entity to a territorial power after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 where Robert Clive led the company to a decisive victory against the French forces and the Nawab of Bengal. Following this victory the company began to tax conquered provinces and turned factories into fortresses and administrative hubs.
The East India Company was formally dissolved on the 1st of June 1874 following the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873 which came into effect on the 1st of January 1874. This dissolution occurred after a final dividend payment and the redemption of its stock following the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The East India Company's trade in opium to China which began in the 1770s created a series of opioid addiction outbreaks across China and led to the First Opium War in 1839. The company used this trade as a primary source of revenue to balance its books and fund its military operations.