Levant Company

Levant Company

Coat of arms of the Levant Company
Company type	Public chartered
Industry	International trade
Predecessor	Venice Company Turkey Company
Founded	11 September 1592[1]
Founder	Sir Edward Osborne
Defunct	19 May 1825
Fate	Dissolved by the Dissolution of Levant Company Act 1825 (c. 33 6 Geo. 4); consular establishments taken over by the Board of Trade
Headquarters	London, England Aleppo, Ottoman Syria
Number of locations	Various across Europe and Near East
Area served	Eastern Mediterranean
Products	Rum and spices; cloth: cottons and woollens, kerseys, indigo, gall, camlet; tin, pewter, maroquin, soda ash.
Services	Trade and commerce
Total assets	Merchant shipping
Total equity	Joint-stock capital company
Owner	Government of England (until 1 May 1707) Government of Great Britain (1 May 1707 – 31 December 1800) Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1 January 1801)
Number of employees	6,000
Parent	English/British Crown
Divisions	Turkish, Levantine, Venetian littoral

The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired, as she was eager to maintain trade and political alliances with the Ottoman Empire.^[1] Its initial charter was good for seven years and was granted to Edward Osborne, Richard Staper, Thomas Smith and William Garrard with the purpose of regulating English trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Levant. The company remained in continuous existence until being superseded in 1825. A member of the company was known as a Turkey Merchant.^[2][3]