The dutch & east india companies had "royal charters" which is essentially a monopoly license, the equivalent of a modern patent. This was the modern way of reg

The dutch & east india companies had "royal charters" which is essentially a monopoly license, the equivalent of a modern patent. This was the modern way of regulating industries that were thought to need regulation. At the time (and for most of human history), foreign trade was thought of as one these. I'm not sure the relevance, not driving at anything in particular. Cartels and monopolies have all sorts of origin stories. The biggest monopolies historically (and currently^) were formed via royal charter. ^Saudi Aramco is arguably the world's biggest company and holds a royal monopsony charter.