Barbary Company

The Barbary Company, also referred to in historical accounts as the Marocco Company, was an English overseas trading venture established in 1585 during the reign of Elizabeth I. Its creation formed part of England's broader effort to secure commercial access to the Mediterranean and North African markets at a time when piracy, political restrictions, and competition from other European powers made regular trade difficult. The company focused principally on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, then commonly associated in English usage with the Barbary Coast. The company's legal foundation was a patent issued by Elizabeth I to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick; and approximately forty other participants, including London merchants. The patent granted the group an exclusive right to trade with Morocco for twelve years. Rather than creating a fully incorporated corporation with a permanent institutional structure, the grant functioned primarily as a collective trading licence. The company did not have the formal governor, court of assistants, or other administrative arrangements associated with some of the more developed English chartered companies of the period. The name Barbary Company is therefore a later conventional designation rather than necessarily the formal title used in the original patent. The venture emerged from a period of expanding English commercial diplomacy. Correspondence between Elizabeth I and the Ottoman sultan Murad III had contributed to an agreement in 1580 that allowed English merchants to travel more safely through Ottoman-controlled waters and ports, including areas connected with the North African coast. The Turkey Company was established in 1581 to exploit related privileges, while the Venice Company followed in 1583. The Barbary Company was a separate enterprise, although the commercial interests and membership of these ventures overlapped. The Turkey and Venice companies later became part of the Levant Company in 1592, while the Barbary venture remained focused on Morocco. The company's principal exchange was English woollen cloth for Moroccan sugar. Morocco was an important source of sugar for English consumers before the expansion of sugar plantations in the West Indies during the seventeenth century. The trade was strategically attractive because it linked English textile production with a valuable imported commodity, but it was not consistently profitable for all participants. London merchants complained that English cloth was being sold too cheaply while Moroccan sugar was being purchased at excessive prices. These criticisms reflected the practical difficulty of managing prices, supply, and bargaining across a long-distance trade route. The company also faced organizational and competitive limitations. Its arrangements provided privileges but relatively little centralized control over the conduct of merchants. Several members participated in Levant Company commerce as well, and the stronger performance and wider institutional development of the Levant Company likely drew commercial attention and resources away from the Moroccan venture. The Barbary Company's original twelve-year charter expired in 1597, and the enterprise did not develop into a durable incorporated company. It is consequently best understood as a short-lived Elizabethan chartered trading initiative rather than as a continuing consumer-facing brand or modern corporation. A later Anglo-Moroccan treaty concluded in 1728 extended privileges connected with the safe-conduct of English nationals. The treaty indicates the continuing importance of diplomatic and commercial relations between England and Morocco, but the available historical account does not establish that the original Barbary Company remained active as an operating organization at that date. The company's lasting significance lies in its place within the early history of English overseas commerce, chartered monopolies, and Anglo-Moroccan trade.

The Barbary Company was created in 1585 against the background of England's expanding diplomatic and commercial contacts with the Mediterranean and North Africa. English merchants had faced serious obstacles to Mediterranean trade, including piracy and the political control of important sea routes and ports. A 1580 arrangement associated with Elizabeth I's correspondence with Ottoman Sultan Murad III improved the security and legal position of English merchants traveling through Ottoman-controlled waters. This opening encouraged the formation of specialized trading ventures, including the Turkey Company in 1581 and the Venice Company in 1583. The Barbary Company was established separately in 1585 with a geographic focus on Morocco, particularly the Atlantic coast. Elizabeth I issued a patent to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick; and about forty other participants, many of them London merchants. The patent provided an exclusive right to trade with Morocco for twelve years. Its structure differed from that of more mature chartered companies: it was essentially a collective licence rather than a fully incorporated body, and it had no clearly defined governor or court of assistants. The expression Barbary Company is a conventional historical name; the venture was also called the Marocco Company. The main commercial exchange involved English cloth and Moroccan sugar. Sugar from Morocco was significant in the English market before Caribbean plantation production expanded in the seventeenth century. The trade offered a potential complementarity between English manufacturing and Moroccan commodities, but merchants criticized the terms of exchange. Complaints alleged that English cloth was sold at prices that were too low while Moroccan sugar cost too much, suggesting that the company struggled to secure favorable commercial terms. The venture's participants had overlapping interests with the Turkey Company and other Mediterranean trading organizations. The Turkey and Venice companies were brought together in the Levant Company in 1592, and the increasing importance of that organization may have weakened the separate Moroccan enterprise. The Barbary Company's patent expired in 1597. It did not become a lasting incorporated corporation and left no documented modern successor operating under the same identity. Anglo-Moroccan relations continued after the original company's charter ended. A treaty in 1728 extended protections and privileges, particularly provisions concerning the safe-conduct of English nationals. That later diplomatic development belongs to the wider history of Anglo-Moroccan relations and should not automatically be treated as a renewal of the original company's corporate existence. The Barbary Company's historical importance is instead tied to the early English use of royal patents to organize overseas trade, the development of commercial links with Morocco, and the transition toward more institutionalized trading companies.

• 1728

  Anglo-Moroccan treaty extends safe-conduct privileges

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  A later treaty extended privileges relating especially to the safe-conduct of English nationals, demonstrating the continuing importance of Anglo-Moroccan commercial and diplomatic relations.

• 1597

  Original charter expires

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Barbary Company's twelve-year patent ended. The enterprise did not develop into a durable incorporated company after the expiration of its original privilege.

• 1592

  Turkey and Venice companies combine as the Levant Company

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Turkey and Venice companies were merged into the Levant Company, increasing the institutional prominence of a related Mediterranean trading organization in which some Barbary Company members also participated.

• 1585

  Royal patent creates the Moroccan trading venture

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Elizabeth I granted a twelve-year exclusive Moroccan trade privilege to the Dudley earls and approximately forty other participants. This event marks the establishment of the enterprise later known as the Barbary Company.

• 1581

  Formation of the Turkey Company

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Turkey Company was established to exploit newly available regional trading privileges, providing part of the commercial context for the later Moroccan venture.

• 1580

  Anglo-Ottoman commercial opening

  [1]Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org

  An agreement associated with Elizabeth I and Ottoman Sultan Murad III improved the ability of English merchants to travel through Ottoman-controlled seas and ports, including routes relevant to North African trade.

An Elizabethan privileged trading venture linking English textile exports with Moroccan sugar and broader diplomatic-commercial access to North Africa.

• Textile export · 1585

  English woollen cloth

  English cloth was the principal export traded by the company's participants in Morocco. It represented the English manufacturing side of the exchange and was intended to be sold or bartered for Moroccan commodities. Contemporary complaints reported that the cloth was sometimes sold at excessively low prices, indicating that the company did not always achieve favorable terms for its English merchants.

• Imported commodity · 1585

  Moroccan sugar

  Moroccan sugar was the venture's principal import and an important attraction of the Moroccan trade. Before the rise of West Indian plantation production, Morocco was a significant source of sugar for the English market. Merchant criticism that sugar was acquired at high prices highlights the commercial challenges involved in sourcing and transporting the commodity.

• Chartered trading privilege · 1585

  Moroccan trade monopoly

  The company's central institutional offering was not a manufactured product but a royal monopoly over English trade with Morocco. The 1585 patent gave the named patentees and associated merchants exclusive rights for twelve years, allowing them to organize voyages and commercial exchanges under crown-backed privilege.

• 1597

  Allow the original charter to expireOther

  Background

  The venture had encountered unfavorable trading terms, limited internal regulation, and competition or overlap from the more successful Levant Company.

  Action taken

  The twelve-year patent ended without the enterprise becoming a permanent incorporated company.

  Aftermath

  English commercial and diplomatic relations with Morocco continued in later forms, but the original Barbary Company ceased to be a continuing operating entity.

  Source

• 1585

  Concentrate the chartered venture on MoroccoStrategy

  Background

  England was seeking more reliable access to Mediterranean and North African commerce after years in which piracy and political barriers had restricted English merchants.

  Action taken

  The Crown created a separate privileged venture focused on trade along the Atlantic coast of Morocco, rather than incorporating it into the Turkey or Venice companies.

  Aftermath

  The arrangement gave the participants a twelve-year monopoly but remained administratively less developed than some other English chartered companies.

  Source

1. 1Barbary Companyen.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Early Chartered Companies (A.D. 1296-1858)books.google.com