Early Corporations

British East India Co. – 1600-1858
Chartered by British Crown for fur trade with Asia.
Intervened in Indian political affairs as Mogul power declined.
Its military branch defeated French East India Co. 1751-60,
brought Bengal under British Control and got treaty with Indian states.
Established British governor general of India 1774.
Dissolved by British. After Indian Sepoy Rebellion (Indian soldiers in British Army)
1857 when British took over direct admin. Control of India.

Dutch East India Co. - 1602-1798
Monopoly on Dutch trade between Cape of Good Hope & Strait of Magellan.
Subdued local rulers, drove British and Portuguese from Indonesia, Malaysia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Dissolved and passed territory to Dutch Empire.

Massachusetts Bay Co. - 1628-84
English chartered co. (preceded by Plymouth Colony) which established
(Massachusetts Bay) Colony between Charles & Merrimack Rivers south to “south sea”.
Colonized by Puritans in 1630s.
Dissolved in 1684.

New Sweden Co. - 1638-55
Founded Swedish colony on Delaware River in present day Penn, NJ, Delaware.
Captured by Dutch in 1655.

French East India Co. - 1664-1769
Chartered by Louis XIV to trade in East.
Active in India 1741 until defeat by British 1757.

Royal Africa Co.
Organized English slave trade
Defined slaves as “commodities”
Was basis for growth of British Empire to rival and eventually supersede Spain

Mississippi Co. (Compagnie d'Occident) 1717/1719-20
Commercial monopoly in Louisiana enlarged as Compagnie d'Indie in 1719.
Merged with bank of John Law (Scottish financier in France) 1720.
Speculative bubble collapsed in 1720, discrediting idea of national banks but
encouraging colonization.
Source: Columbia Encyclopaedia & Encyclopaedia of Slavery