TheVenice Companywas anEnglishchartered trading companyestablished in 1583 to monopolise on trade in and around theVenetiancoloniesin theMediterranean Sea.[1]
In 1592, the Venice Company merged with the Turkey Company to form the renownedLevant Company,which went on to regulate English and Ottoman trade for the following few centuries until its decline and dissolution in 1825.[2]
Origins and inception
editThe Venice Company was chartered as a trading company in 1583 by Thomas Cordell, William Garway and Edward Holmden for an initial period of seven years. Its mandate was to exchange English-made goods, usually woollen fabrics, for eastern commodities, especially spices, currants for wine, and silk cloth. Some of the company’s leading members were Paul Bayning, father ofPaul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning,Thomas Cordell, analdermanand a member of the Mercers’ Company,Edward Holmdenand William Garway. The latter two had vast experience inMoroccancommerce, while the others had all been active inSpanishcommerce.[3]
Merger
editIn 1592, upon the expiration of both the charters of the Turkey and Venice Companies,Queen Elizabeth Iapproved a charter to merge both companies into theLevant Company,as she was anxious to maintain trade and political alliances with theOttoman Empire.Both Cordell and Bayning transferred to the Levant Company upon its formation.[4]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^Christine Woodhead (2009), England, the Ottomans and the Barbary Coast in the Late Sixteenth Century State Papers Online 1509–1714, Cengage Learning
- ^Kenneth R. Andrews (1984), Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480-1630, Cambridge University Press
- ^Robert Brenner(2003), Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London's Overseas Traders, 1550-1653, Verso
- ^Kenneth R. Andrews (1964), Elizabethan Privateering 1583-1603, Cambridge University Press