What Was The Monopolie In The 1600's

On October 19th, 1693, the sloop Amity sailed into the harbor of St. Mary’s, a small island ten miles off the east coast of Madagascar. Weighing 70 tons and carrying eight guns, she had stopped at the island to resupply and refit on her way back to America. The island provided amenities that could not be found anywhere else in the Indian Ocean: a trading post and small fort, run by a merchant named Adam Baldridge. The harbor provided a protected sloping shoreline upon which the crew could careen the ship, removing the drag-inducing sea life that grew on the hull. There were herds of cattle on the island, and stockpiles of supplies from New York that could replenish their larder and magazine. The captain traded goods obtained during their voyage

Royally chartered companies monopolized international trade in the early days of the English empire. The monopolies were an effort to control the high economic risks of maritime shipping and multi-year voyages by restricting the supply of goods to maintain high prices and incentive the development of trade. Merchants banded together in joint stock companies to pool the risk and engage in capital intensive enterprises, such as the slave trade. Queen Elizabeth chartered the British East India Company (EIC) in 1600 to establish trade with Asia. Its charter granted the company a “monopoly on all English trade to the east of the Cape of the Good Hope,” a legally enforceable trade agreement that covered territory stretching from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of North America. The company’s first “factory” (trading station) in India was established at Masulipatnam in 1611. Charles II chartered The Royal African Company in 1672 to develop the English slave trade in Africa. He granted it a monopoly on the trade of slaves from Africa to the colonies and provided a robust legal framework with which to enforce

This chaos caused the line between legal commercial activity and smuggling to become subject to the vagaries of whoever was in a position to enforce the law at the time.The merchants were able to engage were able to engage in commercial activity with pirates openly and with increasing temerity. As the risk to merchants of participating in the trade with pirates lessened, the likelihood that they would do so increased. From 1664 to 1688, New York was under the control of the Duke of York—crowned King James II in 1685—as a proprietary colony. He appointed governors to serve at his pleasure and a council of New York natives to advise and assist them. This resulted in the upper echelon of New York society and government allying with the crown to secure their positions. After James II fled to France and William ascended to the throne from the Netherlands in the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, the twenty-four years of order turned to chaos. New York erupted in armed rebellion as a group of New Yorkers led by merchant Jacob Leisler overthrew the governor in the name of the new