Massachusetts Bay Company
Massachusetts Bay Company, a group of English Puritans chartered to trade and colonize in an area of North America between the Charles River (at present-day Boston) and the Merrimack River (near the present New Hampshire border). The company was formed in 1629 under the leadership of John Winthrop. It was granted a royal charter, although the area specified fell within the territory granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges' Council for New England. The charter gave the company power to govern its area subject only to the king's approval.
In 1630 the members of the company, bearing their charter, migrated to the Massachusetts Bay area with 17 shiploads of colonists. Here they founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. When, on Gorges' complaint, the charter was recalled in 1635, the company refused to give it up. The outbreak of civil war in England in 1642 halted further action at that time. The Massachusetts Bay Company charter was revoked in 1684.