NORDIC COMPANY (NOORDSE COMPAGNIE)

Commercial company, founded in 1614 by a charter of the States General, that had a whalingmonopoly in the region between Novaya Zemlyaand the Davis Strait, including Greenland. On Spitsbergen, a settlement was founded for the production of whale oil. The company was dis continued in 1642, after which, whaling was open to all until inter national whaling conventions took precedence.