Today in history: April 26

On this date in 1607, English employees of the privately held Virginia Company of London (left: the company seal) land at Cape Henry, Virginia, with the intent of founding a gold-mining operation. A month later they will found the first successful settlement of Jamestown.

They don’t actually find any gold, but the settlement will endure, making the United States the first nation in history to be founded by a for-profit corporation.

[Frank Snyder]