Medieval Europe had few 'companies' as paying interest was considered the sin of usury.
With the Reformation came the rise of 'joint-stock' companies.
English monarchs granted royal charters to monopoly companies where carpenters, blacksmiths, bakers, masons, etc., could invest in and received profits from trading expeditions.
In 1551, the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands searched for a northeast sea route to China and Indonesia's Spice Islands.
This turned into the Muscovy Company in 1555 which traded with Russia's Czar Ivan the Terrible.
England then started the Levant Company which traded with Ottoman Muslims of Turkey, 1581, followed by the British East India Company, 1600.
Eventually, companies were formed to trade with Africa, the Mediterranean and America.
A delicate balance of motivations drove men on, both then and now, being in constant competition: greed versus the gospel.
In 1606, King James I, for whom the King James Bible was named, granted charters to two Virginia Companies: the London Company and the Plymouth Company.
The First Charter of Virginia, 1606, stated:
"For the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness."
In 1607, the Plymouth Company established a settlement in Maine, but it was abandoned.
In 1607, the London Company sent three ships, the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, under Captain Christopher Newport to explore Chesapeake Bay.
Upon landing, they erected a Christian cross and chaplain Robert Hunt offered prayer, as portrayed in award winning CBN film "First Landing the Movie."
Sailing upstream, they named the James River after King James and established the first permanent English settlement in the New World at Jamestown on MAY 13, 1607.
Unfortunately in the next three years, mosquito swamps, malaria, hunger, exposure and Indian attacks resulted in 439 of the 500 settlers dying, including Rev. Robert Hunt.
The settlers wrote:
"1607. To the glory of God and in memory of the Reverend Robert Hunt, Presbyter, appointed by the Church of England.
Minister of the Colony which established the English Church and English Civilization at Jamestown...
His people, members of the Colony, left this testimony concerning him. Rev. Robert Hunt was an honest, religious and courageous Divine.
He preferred the Service of God in so good a voyage to every thought of ease at home."
The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen StatesSettlers continued their tribute to Rev. Robert Hunt:
"He endured every privation, yet none ever heard him repine.
During his life our factions were ofte healed, and our greatest extremities so comforted that they seemed easy in comparison with what we endured after his memorable death.
We all received from him the Holy Communion together, as a pledge of reconciliation, for we all loved him for his exceeding goodness."
Ending their tribute to Rev. Robert Hunt, Virginia's first settlers wrote:
"He planted the first Protestant Church in America and laid down his life in the foundation of America."
Read PAST American Minutes in the
Achives Watch
Faith in History
