Virginia Company of London Flashcards
Merchant
Occupation is the purchase/sale of goods for profit
Trader in good not manufactured by their own hand
Medieval guilds
Developed into merchant monopolies
Merchant guilds
Association of merchants in a particular town
Regulated companies
Usually foreign trade
Established by Crown Charter
Meant it had a constitution and a centralised governing force
Later 16thC
Joint-stock
Members were shareholders
Joint-stock shareholders
Known as adventurers
Contributed capital
Purchased shares from which they derived profit
Joint-stock was
Business owned by its investors
Investors owned shares based on quantity of stock purchased
Risks of joint-stock
Adventuring was expensive
Potential for huge profit but also huge risk
Many ships never completed the voyages
If a number of people pooled their wealth for a common purpose…
Small share would be lost by each investor if an enterprise failed
Shared risk
Edward Sharpe argued for Britain to develop a joint-stock in…
Herring fishing
Sir William Harvey was
Already running a herring fishing enterprise
Noblemen/gentry/men of status invested in herring fishing
Join together with Harvey
Operate one boat each
James I and herring fishing
Gave them the crown’s blessing to encourage the enterprise
Turned them into a company by a scheme called incorporating
Granted them letters patent as a corporation
Corporation
Given privileges, immunities and authority to run own affairs
Appointed people to run it
Included people like treasurers
The stock
As more stocks came in, more boats were provided
This was the joint-stock of the company
Sharpe’s scheme vs the East India Company
EIC had a common treasury
Adventurers once brought in were continued in bank
Often additional contributions called for
Background to the Company
1604
James I made peace with Spain
Background to the Company
1605
Christopher Newport made another exploration to the coast of North America
Christopher Newport
Had commanded the mission of 1590
James I granted
A charter to the Virginia Company
Appointed royal council to oversee company ventures
First charter of the Virginia Company
1606
No distinction
Between northern and southern awards to ‘Virginia’ and other places
Terms of the charter
Permitted to establish a colony of 100 square miles between 34th and 45th parallels
1609
Two distinct enterprises
London Company (in Virginia)
Plymouth Company (further north)
Setting up Company means
Activity on each side of the Atlantic
In London the Company held
Meetings of the ‘court’ of the Virginia Company
In Virginia, the Company oversaw
Activities of those employed by the Company
First Voyage Captain
Christopher Newport
Veteran of privateering against Spain and Portugal
1606, principal mariner in Royal Navy
Chosen by the Company to lead the first voyage
Ships from the first voyage
The Discovery
The Godspeed
The Susan Constant
First voyage landed
Cape Henry in April 1607
On landing in Virginia
They opened the instructions from the Company
Instructions said
Find a safe port on a navigable river to travel further in land
Divide the 120 men in groups
If you find high ground, see if it’s a spring (that runs to the east sea)
Groups the men were split into
40 to build a storehouse
30 to prepare ground, sow corn and root-crops
10 as sentinel at Cape Henry
40 to go to Newport and explore river
When high ground was spied, 20 men to search for minerals
Indigenous population
Not offend them
Trade with them - particularly for corn
Why could the settlers not settle near woods?
You will not be able to clear 20 acres in a year
Enemies could hide in the woods
Settlers and sailors
Do not let sailors that travel for wages hamper trade
Carpenters
Had to work on public buildings/for the Company even if they were privately employed
