Levant Bonding Company

Abstract

The Levant Company was one of the English joint-stock companies that originated in 1581. The Sapaio Company included more wealthy merchants than the London Company of Merchant Adventurers, who had a large amount of capital in circulation, which enabled them to make large expenditures in the countries of the Levant. An individual member of a company of merchant-adventurers traded independently. He provided the freight himself. He took upon himself the loss and profit during trading. The Company’s trade was primarily continental and could not afford the costs of long-distance trade, whereas the Levant Company could. By 1588, the Levant Company was transformed into a regulatory, monopoly company in the countries of the Levant (in the Middle Ages, the Mediterranean countries - Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Greece were included in the countries of the Levant, which were part of the Ottoman Empire) and its status was - a joint-stock company. On January 7, 1592, the company was granted a new charter, according to which the companies of Turkey and Venice were united with the company.. By the charter of 1581, English merchants were granted the right to trade for 12 years. and in 1601 for 15 years. In 1661, by charter of King Charles II, the Company was transformed into a political body with legislative authority in the Levant. The number of company members was not limited. The main candidate should have been a wholesaler or with seven years of experience. Under 25s were admitted if they paid £25. And those with an older age are twice as old. The number of members of the company is named at different times: 29, 43, 119, 300 people. In addition to the Londoners, provincial merchants were also united in the Levant Company. Also, company merchants were united in three or more companies. If it were not for the large capital of the merchants, they would not be able to participate in the trade affairs of several companies at the same time. The Levant Company was headed by a ruler-governor who had 12 assistants. The company also had responsible representatives in places where it had commercial dealings. Such was the ambassador in Constantinople and the consuls and vice-consuls in various cities of the Levant. In addition, the employees of the embassy were translators, a treasurer and a preacher. The company had established import and export regulation rules. From England it exported mainly Maud fabrics, while it imported silk, cotton, blueberries, drugs, ylang-ylang, nutmeg, pepper, clove-cinnamon, wines, and other oriental goods. They mainly traded in: Venice, Zante, Kefalonia, Candia, Constantinople, Scio, Aleppo, Tripoli, Algiers, Cartagena, Alicante, Barcelona, Valencia, Marseille, and they did not allow excessive quantities of goods to be exported and imported, as this would cause the goods to lie down and the profit would be less. The royal government did not allow relations with the countries of the Levant: Venice, Turkey, despite many dissatisfactions of English merchants, because it would be unprofitable for England from a political point of view. This is exactly diplomacy. It was better to suffer the English merchants than to aggravate the hostilities with the countries of the Levant. English merchants developed the technology of cotton and silk production, which developed in a capitalist way, in which England was helped by the experience of Maud textile production. Finally, the English cloth trade in the countries of the Levant left a large profit for England. Also, the import of oriental goods (raw materials) silk, cotton contributed to the development of relevant production, which led to the economic development of the country.