Muscovy Company
Seal of the Muscovy Company, showing the date 1555 above an escutcheon of arms: Barry wavy of six argent and azure, over all a ship of three masts in full sail towards sinister proper, sails, pennants, and ensigns of the first, each charged with a cross gules all between three bezants, a chief or, on a pale between two roses gules seeded or, barbed vert, a lion passant guardant of the fifth All encircled by motto: Refugium Nostrum in Deo Est ("Our Refuge is in God"). The ship is shown, unusually for heraldry, sailing towards the sinister, signifying "The East" | |
| Company type | Trading company; charity |
|---|---|
| Industry | Trading company; now a charitable organization |
| Predecessor | Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands |
| Founded | 6 February 1555 in England |
| Founders | Richard Chancellor, Sebastian Cabot and Sir Hugh Willoughby |
| Fate | Existed until 1917 as a trading company. Now operates mainly as a charity. |
The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company; Russian: Московская компания, romanized: Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint-stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon flourish in England and finance its exploration of the world. The Muscovy Company had a monopoly on trade between England and Russia until 1698 and it survived as a trading company until the Russian Revolution. Since 1917, the company has operated as a charity, now working within Russia.