British East India Company

The British East India Company was a British commercial and political organisation established in India in the late 1600’s, which was known as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London. A forerunner of this group was the London Mercers Company, and earlier than that, the London Staplers. The organisation traced their lineage back to the ancient commercial groups involved in trading between the Mediterranean and India. They were closely related to the Levant Company, and the Anglo-Muscovy Company, and spawned the London Company, which was chartered in 1606 by King James I, to establish the Virginia Plantation on a communistic basis, and the Plymouth Colony in 1621.