1801: Well over a century after stock trading began in Britain, the cornerstone of the stock exchange building is finally laid in the City of London.

Neil Brazil, press officer, London Stock Exchange.

1553: One of the earliest business ventures financed by selling stock to the public is launched, as three ships — the Bona Speranza, the Edward Bonaventure, and the Bona Confidentia — set out from Gravesend in England seeking "discoverie of new trades northe warde" in Russia. The Russia Company, or Muscovy Company, has raised 6,000 pounds from more than 200 investors at 25 pounds per share. But the company earns no money for at least three decades, and many of its investors die without ever receiving a dividend.

T.S. Willan, The Early History of the Russia Company, 1553-1603 (Manchester Univ. Press, Manchester, UK, 1968), pp. 3-5, 41, 47.