[Footnote 2: By thus shortening the journey 3000 miles, he practically brought America 3000 miles nearer to Europe.]
[Footnote 3: Because the waters thereabout abounded in codfish. For a comparison of Gosnold's route with those of the other early explorers see the map on p. 15.]
[Footnote 4: Bancroft's United States, Vol. I., pp. 70-83. Hildreth's United States, Vol. I., p. 90.]
%19. The Two Virginia Companies.%—As a result of this voyage, Gosnold was more eager than ever to plant a colony in Virginia, and this enthusiasm he communicated so fully to others that, in 1606, King James I. created two companies to settle in Virginia, which was then the name for all the territory from what is now Maine to Florida.
1. Each company was to own a block of land 100 miles square; that is, 100 miles along the coast,—50 miles each way from its first settlement,—and 100 miles into the interior.
2. The First Company, a band of London merchants, might establish its first settlement anywhere between 34° and 41° north latitude.
3. The Second Company, a band of Plymouth merchants, might establish its first settlement anywhere between 38° and 45°.
4. These settlements were to be on the seacoast.
5. In order to prevent the blocks from overlapping, it was provided that the company which was last to settle should locate at least 100 miles from the other company's settlement.[1]
[Footnote 1: Over the affairs of each company presided a council appointed by the King, with power to choose its own president, fill vacancies among its own members, and elect a council of thirteen to reside on the company's lands in America. Each company might coin money, raise a revenue by taxing foreign vessels trading at its ports, punish crime, and make laws which, if bad, could be set aside by the King. All property was to be owned in common, and all the products of the soil deposited in a public magazine from which the needs of the settlers were to be supplied. The surplus was to be sold for the good of the company. The charter is given in full in Poore's Charters and Constitutions, pp. 1888-1893.]