English Merchant Adventurers

Timeline

1. c. 1591–1595Middelburg · ZeelandIn the early 1590s, the merchant adventurers, responding to changes in the Spanish Netherlands, shifted the focus of cloth exports to ports of the Dutch Republic such as Zeeland, maintaining supply to Central European markets through the company's warehouses and agent networks, and distributing profits and risks according to its charter.
2. 1596–1600London · LondonBetween 1596 and 1600, the merchant adventurers revised their company charter in London, broadened the range of shareholders, and explored Baltic markets such as Hamburg, settling with bills of exchange and silver in coordination with royal diplomacy, becoming a major pillar of Elizabethan England's export-oriented economy.