This is a american circus company, which was founded by James Anthony Bailey and P.T Barnum and was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling Brothers brought the Barnum & Baileys circus in 1907, however they ran the circuses separately until 1919.
In 1875, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to lend his name and financial backing to the circus they had already created in Delavan, Wisconsin. It was called P.T Barnum's Great Travelling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome. Greatest Show on Earth was added later. James Bailey had teamed up with James E Cooper to create the Cooper and Baileys circus in the 1860s and this was Barnums main competitor. Cooper and Baileys exhibited "Columbia" the first baby elephant ever born in the United states. Barnum attempted to buy the elephant, and eventually agreed to combine their shows in 1881. In 1882, the combined Barnum and Bailey circus was very successful with acts that included Jumbo, which was known as the worlds largest elephant. Sadly Barnum died in 1891 and Bailey took over the circus from his widow.
He continued touring the eastern United States until he took his circus to Europe, that tour started on December 27, 1897 and lasted until 1902. In 1884, five of the seven Ringling brothers started a small circus at the same time that Barnum & Bailey were at the peak of their popularity. Similar to dozens of small circuses that toured the mid-west and north-east at the time, the Ringling's moved their circus from town to town in small animal drawn caravans. Their circus grew and they were able to move their circus by train. This enabled them to be the biggest travelling amusement enterprise in that era.
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