COMORO ISLANDS, a volcanic group in the Indian Ocean. between the northern ex tremity of Madagascar and the continent oi Africa. They are four in number —Angareja (called also Comoro), Mohilla, Johanna and Mayotta. In 1843 France took possession of the last mentioned island, and the others were talcen under the protection of the same coun try, by treaty, in 1886. They are extremely fertile, well stocked with cattle, sheep, hogs and birds of various kinds. They produce, likewise, sweet and sour oranges, citrons, bananas, honey, sugar-cane, rice, ginger, coconuts, etc. The people are chiefly engaged in rearing cattle, and in the manufacture of coarse cloths, jewelry and small arms. They are professed Mohammedans, but fetish worship is customary. Pop. Arabs and negroes, 70,000.
CoMPANY (Old Fr. companie, from Lat. companirem, vmess,)) from com-, ccwith,l) and panis, *breadx9, an association of individuals formed for some purpose of mutual advantage, especially for business purposes. The commer cial use of the word which bulks most largely now has two separate uses: in general of a firm or corporation; and particularly of the silent members of a business house whose names do not appear in its style but are com prehended by the affix "and Company.° His torically the earliest occurrence of the term in connection with business enterprise dates in England back to the 14th century when the Merchant Adventurers of England about 1359 began trade. English commerce and empire are equally indebted to the efforts of the com panies formed in the early part of the 17th cen tury. The Eastland Company, the Muscovy Company and the Turkey Company carried English trade into eastern Europe. The East India Company won the major part of the Asiatic trade for England, and gained posses sion of India and administered that country until the middle of the 19th century. The Vir ginia Company and the Massachusetts Bay Company prepared the way for English colonization in America, but never flourished. The history of the Hudson Bay Company is another interesting episode because of the com bination of territorial and trading grants which it long held and because it still enjoy's trading privileges. England still employs the same
method of opening up trade, and the North Borneo Company, the British East Africa Com pany and the famous South Africa Company were formed between 1880 and 1890. Germany with her new imperial policy fosters the forma tion of such associations, and in 1884 the Ger man East Africa Company was started, with the object of extending trade and colonization. The London City companies also are histori cally important as outgrowths of the medimval guilds and because for many years membership in.them was a necessary preliminary to political privilege of any sort; their authority was cur tailed in 1725 and by the reform bills of the 19th century, but members of the companies are still the only electors for civic offices.
In modern commerce companies may be most conveniently divided into the simple firm or partnership, which is a mere mutual agreement, and the stock company, which, by reason of its complex character and quasi-public nature, comes under State control and has displaced to a great degree the simpler method. In the stock company, instead of a private agreement, the members, under State authorization, make a company with a fixed capitalization divided into a certain number of shares, possession of which carries the right to vote, proportionally to hold ings, on matters of business policy. State regu lations require in all cases that one of the con tracting parties be a resident of the State in which the company is incorporated, and that an office of the concern be located in the State. Other requirements vary in different States, es pecially in the matter of fees, which sotne of the western States have reduced to a minimum for the sake of attracting business to the State, and replenishing its treasury; and in the breadth and range of powers granted by the charter. The corporation laws of the State of New Jer sey, together with its convenient situation- near New York, have drawn a tremendous volume of this business to it. See CORPORATION;