London and Bristol Company | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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London and Bristol Company

London and Bristol Company, est 1610, the first formal attempt to colonize NEWFOUNDLAND. A group of merchant "adventurers" from London and Bristol, Eng, obtained a royal charter giving them title to Newfoundland's east coast.

London and Bristol Company

London and Bristol Company, est 1610, the first formal attempt to colonize NEWFOUNDLAND. A group of merchant "adventurers" from London and Bristol, Eng, obtained a royal charter giving them title to Newfoundland's east coast. The first governor of the colony at CUPIDS, in Conception Bay, was John GUY, a respected Bristol resident. After brief success, disillusionment brought about by climatic severity, hostility from English West Country merchants who sent out ships seasonally to fish in Newfoundland waters, PIRACY and the realization that nonfishery activities were unprofitable, led to the company's demise in the 1620s.