 The Company was founded by a group of wealthy Basques from the province of Gipuzkoa in 1728.The specific aim of the Basque Company, acting almost autonomously with tasks of military nature at their own command and expense, was to break the "de facto" Dutch monopoly on the cocoa trade in the Captaincy General of Venezuela.It was initially based in San Sebastián and received its royal decree on September 25, 1728, by Philip V of Spain.