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Private company

Providence Island Company

English chartered company

The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritan investors including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Island, nowadays part of San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. English settlers were sent to the colonies to run plantations. The colonies also functioned as a base for privateers operating against Spanish ships and settlements in the region.2 It ceased to exist in 1641.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1629Founded1

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The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritan investors including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Island, nowadays part of San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia.2

The story

Providence Island was discovered during 1629 by Daniel Elfrith. Elfrith passed its location to Philip Bell who was governor of the Somers Isles, or Somers Islands (Bermuda); Bell mentioned it to Nathaniel Rich. Rich then involved the Earl of Warwick, his cousin, who called a meeting for 10 November 1629, at Brooke House in Holborn, London. The result was finance, notionally £200 per member, with 20 members, that number being achieved at the start of 1631. Bell accompanied settlers to Providence Island, landed on 24 December of the same year, and became the first governor.

From Wikipedia’s article on Providence Island Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1641Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1629Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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