During the reign of George III and the premiership of William Pitt the Younger the British won an empire in Asia.

The British presence in India had begun as early as 1611 when the East India Company (a society of merchants trading into the East Indies) obtained the permission to establish a factory (that is an establishment for factors or merchants carrying on business in foreign lands) in India by the Moghul Emperor.

Up to the middle of the XVIII century the relationship between the (few) British merchants and the native Indian had been good: there was a genuine attempt to make themselves agreeable to the Indians. They adopted Indian habits in food and dress, and frequently married Indian women, sending their children back to England. They showed deep respect for Indian authority. The British were merchants, after all, proud of their skill in trading and making business, but had no idea of ruling or submitting the Indians.

The conquest of India therefore was engendered more for the inner weakness of the heirs to the throne (after the death of the last Great Moghul in 1707) and the voracity of the other European (France above all) powers which started to acquire parts of Indian territory.

Robert Clive and Warren Hastings are generally considered the protagonists of the establishment of the dominion of the East India Company in India, which ended only in 1858 when the British Crown assumed direct control and administration of all Indian territories.