Plymouth Company

Plymouth Company, speculative joint-stock company founded in 1606 by a group of English “merchant adventurers.” Its purpose was to colonize the coast of North America and thus increase English wealth and trade. It had exclusive rights to the region between Latitude 45° and 41°N. After the failure of its first and only colony on the Kennebec River in Maine (1607–08), the company was reorganized in 1620 as the Council for New England.