<Tr> <Th> Type </Th> <Td> joint stock company </Td> </Tr> <P> The Virginia Company refers collectively to two joint stock companies chartered under James I on 10 April 1606 with the goal of establishing settlements on the coast of North America . The companies were called the "Virginia Company of London" (or the London Company) and the "Virginia Company of Plymouth" (or the Plymouth Company); they operated with identical charters but with differing territories . An area of overlapping territory was created within which the two companies were not permitted to establish colonies within one hundred miles of each other . The Plymouth Company never fulfilled its charter, but its territory was claimed by England and became New England . </P> <P> As corporations, the companies were empowered by the Crown to govern themselves, and they conferred that right onto their colonies . The Virginia Company failed in 1624, but the right to self - government was not taken from the colony . The principle was thus established that a royal colony should be self - governing, and this formed the genesis of democracy in America . </P> <P> The Plymouth Company was permitted to establish settlements between the 38th and 45th parallels, roughly between the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and the current U.S. - Canada border . On 13 August 1607, the Plymouth Company established the Popham Colony along the Kennebec River in present - day Maine . However, it was abandoned after about a year and the Plymouth Company became inactive . A successor company eventually established a permanent settlement in 1620 when the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower </P>

Allowed a company to trade and build settlements in the americas