Charter Granted by Gustave Adolphus (June 14, 1626) to the Swedish South Company:
<Whereas...we have received reliable and certain intelligence that there are in...America...many rich countries and islands, of which some are inhabited by quiet and rather effeminate people, some by heathens and savages, some uninhabited, and some as yet only imperfectly explored.
With which said countries it will not only be possible to carry on an extraordinary large commerce from our kingdom, but it is also most likely that the said people may likewise be made more civilized and taught morality and the Christian religion by the mutual intercourse and trade.
Therefore, we have maturely considered and as far as in our power concluded that the advantages, profits, and welfare of our kingdom and faithful subjects, besides the further propagation of the Holy Gospel, will be much improved and increased by the discovery of new commercial relations and navigation...The association shall commence on the first of May of next year, the 1627th after the birth of Christ...
Every six years all the general accounts shall be closed and new ones opened. If, which God may prevent, it then should happen that the profits are not so large or the results such as to justify the shareholders to resolve by a majority of votes not to let the company continue, it shall be dissolved and the funds divided.> 1626GA001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1626GA001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Charter of King Gustave Adolphus, June 14, 1626, to the Swedish South Company.