The American Trading Company of Borneo was a

chartered company A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, and/or coloni ...

formed by

Joseph William Torrey Col. Joseph William Torrey, Rajah of Ambong and Marudu, (April 22, 1828 in Bath, Maine; – June 22, 1885 in Boston) was an American merchant, president of the American Trading Company of Borneo and co-founder of the American colony "Ellena" ( ...

, Thomas Bradley Harris together with several Chinese investors shortly after the acquisition over a parcel of land in northern

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

from the

Sultanate of Brunei This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continu ...

. The first American settlement in the area soon was named "Ellena", although it was abandoned later due to financial difficulties, diseases and riots among the workers.

History

In 1850, the United States and Brunei signed a commercial treaty, which was activated in 1865. Out of this agreement, C.L. Moses, the then US First Consul to the sultanate, was able to secure a lease of a large territorial concession in North Borneo. The grant was made in an effort by the Sultan, who still had to address internal power struggle, to solve the problems of rebellion and piracy in North Borneo. Moses concessions were immediately sold to Torrey, a Hong Kong merchant. Together with his associates, Torrey founded American Trading Company in their attempt to develop plantation agriculture at

Kimanis Kimanis (Chinese: 金馬利) is a town and also a parliamentary constituency in Papar District, West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is located approximately 45 kilometres south of the city of Kota Kinabalu, halfway between Papar and ...

in 1865. This group then sold the lease to Austria's consul in Hong Kong.

References

External links

* American companies established in 1865 American companies disestablished in 1881 Defunct companies of the United States Chartered companies Trading companies of the United States Trading companies disestablished in the 19th century Trading companies established in the 19th century {{US-company-stub