Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company or Virginia Company of Plymouth was officially founded on April 10, 1606 in England with royal charter of James I and was next to the London Company, the second English joint-stock company to establish colonies in North America. The company had its headquarters in Plymouth and is responsible for the construction of the Company were George Popham and Sir Ferdinando Gorges.
The company awarded the territory included the North American coast from the 38th degree of latitude, the mouth of the Potomac River in what is now Virginia, to the 45th parallel, the mouth of the St. Croix River and the boundary between the present-day Maine and New Brunswick. The territory south of the 41st degree of latitude, however, was shared with the London Company, under the condition that the respective colony at a distance of 160 kilometers (100 English miles ) einhielt the construction of settlements to each other.
The first attempt by the Plymouth Company, to establish a colony failed due to the Spaniards, who in August 1606 hijacked the ship before the Englishman Florida and captured the crew. After the coastline had been previously explored, left in 1607, another group of about 120 settlers England and settled at the mouth of the Kennebec River in what is now the U.S. state of Maine. The colonists built a fort, about 50 houses, a church, a storehouse and a fifteen meter long pinnace, the Virginia of Sagahadoc. The colony, named after its founder Popham Colony, was abandoned after only one year. Pophams sudden death and a harsh winter caused the colonists, in August 1608, some return to their home-built ship to England. Also in the episode did not succeed in society to establish permanent settlements on the east coast of North America.
In England, the Plymouth Company was no longer needed, which in 1609 resulted that the London Company received the entire area on the coast to the 41st degree of latitude for the sole use of the Virginia Colony. Only in the year 1620, the Plymouth Company was renovated and renamed the Plymouth Council for New England ( Plymouth Council for New England ). The head of the new company was Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Unlike the Plymouth Company Plymouth Council was successful and established the first settlement in the Plymouth Colony in the area of today's city of Plymouth in Massachusetts. As a successor to the Plymouth Council, the Massachusetts Bay Company was founded, which was originally called the New England Company. She was issued in 1629 by King Charles I. a royal charter. The Plymouth Council consisted of only 15 years, and was disbanded in 1635.