herlands was as much as L1,000,000. Hamburg
afterwards was its principal depot, and it became known as the "Hamburg
Company." In the "Merchant Adventurers'" enterprises is to be seen the
germ of the trading companies which had so remarkable a development in
the 16th and 17th centuries. These old regulated trade gilds passed
gradually into joint-stock associations, which were capable of far
greater extension, both as to the number of members and amount of stock,
each member being only accountable for the amount of his own stock, and
being able to transfer it at will to any other person.

It was in the age of Elizabeth and the early Stuarts that the chartered
company, in the modern sense of the term, had its rise. The discovery of
the New World, and the opening out of fresh trading routes to the
Indies, gave an extraordinary impulse to shipping, commerce and
industrial enterprise throughout western Europe. The English, French and
Dutch governments were ready to assist trade by the granting of charters
to trading associations. It is to the "Russia Company," which received
its first charter in 1554, that Great Britain owed its first intercourse
with an empire then almost unknown. The first recorded instance of a
purely chartered company annexing territory is to be found in the action
of this company in setting up a cross at Spitzbergen in 1613 with King
James's arms upon it. Among other associations trading to the continent
of Europe, receiving charters at this time, were the Turkey Company
(Levant Co.) and the Eastland Company. Both the Russia and Turkey
Companies had an important effect upon British relations with those
empires. They maintained British influence in those countries, and even
paid the expenses of the embassies which were sent out by the English
government to their courts. The Russia Company carried on a large trade
with Persia through Russian territory; but from various causes their
business gradually declined, though the Turkey Company existed in name
until 1825.

The chartered companies which were formed during this period for trade
with the Indies and the New World have had a more wide-reaching
influence in history. The extraordinary career of the East India Company
(q.v.) is dealt with elsewhere.

Charters were given to companies trading to Guinea, Morocco, Guiana and
the Canaries, but none of these enjoyed a very long or prosperous
existence, principally owing to the difficulties caused by foreign
c