Royal African Company
The
Royal African Company (
RAC) was an English mercantile (
trading) company set up by the
Stuart family and
City of London merchants to trade along the
west coast of Africa. It was led by the
Duke of York, who was the brother of
Charles II and later took the throne as
James II. Its original purpose was to exploit the gold fields up the
Gambia River, which were identified by
Prince Rupert during the
Interregnum. It was established after Charles II gained the
English throne in the
Restoration of 1660.
[1] However, it was soon engaged in the
slave trade, as well as with other commodities. It mainly traded with the
Gold Coast, which is now
Ghana.
Originally known as the
Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, by its
charter issued in 1660 it was granted a
monopoly over English trade with
West Africa. With the help of the army and navy, it established forts on the West African coast that served as staging and trading stations and was responsible for seizing any English ships that attempted to operate in violation of the company's monopoly. In the prize court, the King received half of the proceeds and the company half.
[2]
The company fell heavily into debt in 1667, during the
war with the Netherlands, the very war it had itself started when its Admiral
Robert Holmes had attacked the Dutch African trade posts in 1664, as it had lost most of its forts on the African coast except for Cape Corse.
[3] For several years after that, the company maintained some desultory trade, including licensing single-trip private traders, but its biggest effort was the creation in 1668 of the
Gambia Adventurers,
[4] a new company separately subscribed and granted a ten-year licence for African trade north of the
Bight of Benin with effect from 1 January 1669.
[5] In 1672, the original Company re-emerged, re-structured and with a new charter from the king, as the new Royal African Company. Its new charter was broader than the old one and included the right to set up forts and factories, maintain troops and exercise martial law in West Africa, in pursuit of trade in gold, silver and slaves.
[6] At the end of 1678, the licence to the Gambia Adventurers expired and its Gambian trade was merged into the company.
[7]
Royal African Company - Wikipedia
The Africans did not set up martial law to capture each other.
