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The '''Virginia Company''' was an English [[trading company]] [[Chartered company|chartered]] by [[James VI and I|King James I]] on 10 April 1606 with the object of [[British colonization of the Americas|colonizing the eastern coast of America]]. The coast was named [[Virginia]], after [[Elizabeth I]], and it stretched from present-day [[Maine]] to the [[Carolinas]].<ref name="”Charter">{{cite web|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/instructions-for-the-virginia-colony-1606.php|title=Charter of the Virginia Company of 1606}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dos.myflorida.com/library-archives/research/explore-our-resources/florida-history-culture-and-heritage/spanish-colonial-history/|title=Spanish Florida|website=Florida State, Dept of Library and Information Services}}</ref><ref name="Charter of 1609">{{cite web|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/the-second-virginia-charter-1609.php|title=Charter of 1609}}</ref> The company's [[shareholder]]s were [[London]]ers, and it was distinguished from the [[Plymouth Company]], which was chartered at the same time and composed largely of gentlemen from [[Plymouth]], England.<ref>{{cite book |last= Paullin|first= Charles O |editor=John K. Wright |title= Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States|year= 1932|publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington and American Geographical Society|location= New York and Washington, D.C. | pages= Plate 42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last= Swindler|editor-first= William F.|title= Sources and Documents of United States Constitutions.' 10 Volumes |year= 1973–1979|publisher=Oceana Publications |location=Dobbs Ferry, New York | pages= Vol. 10: 17–23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Van Zandt|first= Franklin K.|title= Boundaries of the United States and the Several States; Geological Survey Professional Paper 909|year= 1976|publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. | pages= 92}}</ref><ref>[http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/boundaryk.html How Virginia Got Its Boundaries, by Karl R Phillips]</ref>
The biggest trade breakthrough resulted after adventurer and colonist [[John Rolfe]] introduced several sweeter strains of [[tobacco]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.foundersofamerica.org/johnrolfe.html |title=Welcome to Founders of America! |access-date=25 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605072826/http://foundersofamerica.org/johnrolfe.html |archive-date=5 June 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> from the Caribbean.<ref>[http://www.historyisfun.org/Economics-of-Tobacco.htm Economics of Tobacco]</ref> These yielded a more appealing product than the harsh-tasting tobacco native to Virginia.<ref>[http://www.virtualjamestown.org/jrolfe.html Virtual Jamestown]</ref> Cultivation of Rolfe's new tobacco strains produced a strong commodity crop for export for the London Company and other early English colonies and helped to balance a national trade deficit with [[Spain]]. The company failed in 1624, following the widespread destruction of the [[Great Massacre of 1622]] by indigenous peoples in the colony, which decimated the English population. On May 24, James dissolved the company and made Virginia a royal colony from England<ref name="The First Seventeen Years 1624">''The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607–1624,'' Charles E. Hatch, Jr.</ref> with colonists retaining some self-government.<ref name="Andrews 1924 32–34">{{cite book|last=Andrews|first=Charles M.|title=The Colonial Background of the American Revolution|year=1924|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven and London|isbn=0-300-00004-9|pages=32–34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHq2IYgfcLUC&pg=PA3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_Ordinance_and_Constitution_of_Treasurer_and_Company_in_England_for_a_Council_and_Assembly_in_Virginia_1621 |title=An Ordinance and Constitution of Treasurer and Company in England for a Council and Assembly in Virginia (1621)}}</ref><ref name="Shakespeare1">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/shakespearefound00gay/page/n7|title=Shakespeare and the Founders of Liberty in America|last=Gayley|first=Charles Mills|date=1917|website=Internet Archive|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>{{rp|90–91}}
== History ==
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