Eventually, London decided that India was too important, fragile, and vast to be administered by a private company, especially because that company mismanaged Bengal pretty badly. In 1773—just as their North American colonies were beginning to break away—Great Britain sent a governor general to oversee India. The East India Company continued to operate on the subcontinent as a formidable power, but formal British rule of India had now begun. The colonial government was later called the Raj, and although its governor was appointed by the Parliament in London and his decisions were subject to
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