A chartered company is an association with investors or

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal ...

s that is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights) by

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

(or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, and/or

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

Notable chartered companies (with years of formation)

Austrian

British

The article ''Chartered Companies'' in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, by William Bartleet Duffield, contains a detailed narrative description of the development of some of the companies in England and, later, Britain.

Dutch

English

French

German

Polish-Lithuanian

Portuguese

Russian

*1799–1867

Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...

Scandinavian

Scottish

Spanish

Italian

From 3 August 1889 to 15 May 1893 Filonardi was the first Governor of Italian Somaliland and was in charge of an Italian company responsible for the administration of the Benadir territory, called Societa' Filonardi. *1889 – 1893 Filonardi Company

Zionist Aspiration

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern pol ...

, the founder of Political Zionism, aspired to create a "Jewish Charter Company", modeled on the above European precedents, which would lease Palestine from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and exercise there a de facto sovereign power - a plan described in great detail in Herzl's books Der Judenstaat and Altneuland. In practice Herzl and his successors never managed to mobilize the political and financial backing needed for setting up such a company, and the Zionist Movement eventually established the State of Israel by different means.

Gallery

File:Stora Kopparberg 1288.jpg, Share certificate of the Stora Kopparberg mine, dated 16 June 1288 File:East India House THS 1817 edited.jpg, The British East India Company's headquarters in London File:BSAC-arms.jpg, The arms of the

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expect ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Chartered companiesHudson's Bay Company
* {{Authority control History of European colonialism British Empire Former Dutch colonies Former Danish colonies Former French colonies Former German colonies Former Swedish colonies Types of business entity History of corporate law Age of Sail