特许公司是16、17世纪在西欧出现,由政府授予一定对外贸易垄断权的商业组织。它与西欧近代民族国家之间的关系从其产生、构成与实际运作中都密不可分。地理大发现开辟了新航路,西欧各国开始陆续向外扩张进行海外贸易与殖民掠夺。特许公司在西欧扩张初期所发挥的作用不容小视。 The concessionaire is a commercial organization that emerged in Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and was granted a certain monopoly on foreign trade by the government. Its relationship with the modern Western nation states is closely related to its production, composition and operation. Discovery of a large geographical opening up a new route, Western European countries began to gradually expand outward for overseas trade and colonial plunder. The role of the concessionaire in the early days of Western Europe expansion should not be underestimated.