PLYMOUTH COMPANY

also called Virginia Colony Of Plymouth, commercial trading company chartered by England's King James I in April 1606 for the purpose of colonizing the eastern American coast between parallels 38 and 45 N. Its shareholders were men of Plymouth, Bristol, and Exeter. The Plymouth Company was less successful than its twin, the London Company (q.v.). In 1606 it established two colonies, and in 1607 settlers landed at the mouth of the Kennebec River (Maine), only to abandon the enterprise the next spring. The failure of the Plymouth Company led in 1620 to its reorganization as a new company under a new charter the Council for New England, (q.v.).