Royal Company of the Philippines

The purpose of the company was to promote direct trade between the Philippines (then a colony of the Spanish Empire) and the mother country.

The company quickly grew rich (at the end of 1785, its capital was 10 million pesos) and sought to modernize the archipelago's export capacities; it quickly took control of the other companies and preserved the already existing commercial strategy that favored export crops: indigo, coffee, sugar, spices, cotton.

The most serious conflicts took place with the merchants of Manila and the Filipinos themselves, who used the route to Acapulco for their own activities, or with the United Kingdom, which maintained Asian trade as the first power.

These problems led to a progressive decline of the company from 1794, becoming practically inoperative at the late 18th to early 19th century.

The company ceased its functions in 1829, after the loss of the Spanish colonial empire American territories, and was declared extinct by decree of October 6, 1834 during the regency of Isabella II.