Plymouth << PLIHM uhth, >> Company was one of two associations chartered in 1606 by King James I for English merchants and other interested people who wanted to set up trading colonies in America. Its full title was the Virginia Company of Plymouth. The other association was the Virginia Company of London, or the London Company . The charter gave the Plymouth Company permission to establish a colony in North America between the parallels of 38° and 45° north latitude. The London Company had permission to colonize between 34° and 41° north latitude.
In 1607, explorers for the Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony at the mouth of what is now the Kennebec River on the coast of Maine. The colony failed after one winter. The company then showed only occasional interest in its territory. After 1614, it sponsored explorations by Captain John Smith to what is now the New England region. Smith named the area New England, mapped its coast, and publicized its attractions.
In 1620, a group of investors led by Sir Ferdinando Gorges reorganized the company and renamed it the Council for New England. Gorges, a leader from the Plymouth Company’s early expeditions to America, won a new royal charter. This charter gave the council control of land between 40° and 48° north latitude and rights for fishing off the territory’s shores. Settlers from England who became known as the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony there in 1620. In 1621, the council granted the Pilgrims the legal right to settle in its area. The Council for New England was disbanded in 1635.
