in Bactria. Whereunto thou maist adde sixe of our voyages eleven hundred verstes up against the streame of Dwina to the towne of Vologhda thence one hundred and fourescore verstes by land to Yeraslaue standing upon the mighty river of Volga: there hence above two thousand and five hundred versts downe the streame to the ancient marte Towne of Astracan, and so to the manifolde mouthes of Volga, and from thence also by ship over the Caspian sea into Media, and further then that also with Camels unto Georgia, Armenia, Hyrcania, Gillan, and the cheefest Cities of the Empire of Persia: wherein the Companie of Moscovie Marchants to the perpetual honor of their Citie, and societie, have performed more than any one, yea than all the nations of Europe besides." Expansion Queen Elizabeth I granted the Muscovy Company a monopoly charter on whaling in 1577. The primary and most profitable whaling grounds of this joint-stock company came to be centered around Spitsbergen in the early 17th century, and the company's royal charter of 1613 granted a monopoly on whaling in Spitsbergen, based on the (erroneous) claim that Hugh Willoughby had discovered the land in 1553. Initially the English tried to drive away competitors, but after a few years, they claimed rights only to the waters south of these Arctic islands. Shortly after Chancellor's death in 1556, the Muscovy Company sent another voyage to discover the Northeast Passage, this time led by Steven Borough. He managed to sail through the Kara Gates, the strait between the islands of Vaygach and Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean. In 1607 and 1608, the company sent Henry Hudson in two separate voyages in an attempt to find the Northeast Passage. Both voyages were unsuccessful. Decline In 1646, Tsar Alexei I rescinded the exemption of the Muscovy Company from Russian customs, in response to the company's alleged support of the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. After the execution of Charles I of England in 1648, Alexei I expelled English merchants from Russia altogether, except from Arkhangelsk. While the restoration of Charles II of England in 1660 resulted in a temporary thaw of relations between England and Russia, a 1664 embassy under Andrew Marvell proved unsuccessful in restoring the Muscovy Company's prior benefits. In the meantime, Dutch merchants replaced the English as the dominant traders in Russia. Nevertheless, the company held a monopoly on English-Russian