Royal African Company

From various sources


See:
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/africa_caribbean/britain_trade.htmfor contemporary transcript detailing RAC activities on West African coast

and http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3178&inst_id=14" for

Manuscript volume containing transcripts of documents relating to the Royal African Company, 1742, namely a copy of a petition to the King in Council for a charter to enable the Company to fit out a naval force to attack Spanish settlements and shipping in America, dated 26 Mar 1742; copy of a report made on the petition by a committee of the Privy Council, dated 22 Jul 1742; copy reports to the committee by the Attorney and Solicitor General; a copy memorial of the Company in reply to certain questions in the various reports, dated 6 Dec 1742.

plus related material:

University of London MS 72 contains an account of gold guineas imported from Africa by the Royal African Company, 1755, and MS 217 comprises a report on the trade and value to the Company of their establishment at Sierra Leone, [1725].
The Public Record Office, London, holds records, letter books and correspondence, 1672-1750 (Ref: T70, C113/34);
Rhodes House Library, Oxford University, has the charter, letters from factors to agents, and correspondence, 1670-1729 (Ref: MSS Rawlinson b516, c745-47).

and
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-rac.html" for flags used by ships of RAC and Guinea Company

and
http://www.afrigeneas.com/forumb/index.cgi?noframes;read=9734" for publications of company correspondence in West Africa

and from Wikipedia about Nevis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevis":

On August 30, 1620, James I of England asserted sovereignty over Nevis by giving a Royal Patent for colonisation to the Earl of Carlisle. However actual European settlement did not happen until 1628 when Anthony Hilton moved from nearby Saint Kitts following a murder plot against him. He was accompanied by 80 other settlers, soon to be boosted by a further 100 settlers from London who had originally hoped to settle Barbuda. Hilton became the first Governor of Nevis. After the 1671 peace treaty between Spain and England, Nevis became the seat of the British colony and the Admiralty Court sat in Nevis. Between 1675 and 1730, the island was the headquarter for the slave trade for the Leeward Islands, with approximately 6,000-7,000 enslaved West Africans passing through on route to other islands each year. The Royal African Company brought all its ships through Nevis. [ref]

Ref: Hubbard, Vincent K. (2002). Swords, Ships & Sugar: History of Nevis

Confirmed, along with the endangered nature of the Nevis archive at http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/2006/small.html":

Nevis played a significant role in Atlantic history, being one of the earliest Caribbean islands settled by the British (1628). Thousands of enslaved West Africans were brought there, particularly in the late seventeenth century when Nevis was the location for the Royal African Company's only ‘factory' in the Leeward Islands. From Nevis there has been a continual process of emigration to, and settlement in, other islands in the Caribbean and to North America. For these reasons the Nevis collection has an international significance.

Then from Wikipedia more generally:

The Royal African Company was a slaving company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants once the former retook the English throne in the English Restoration of 1660. It was led by James, Duke of York, Charles II's brother.

Originally known as the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, it was granted a monopoly over the English slave trade, by its charter issued in 1660. With the help of the army and navy it established trading posts on the West African coast, and it was responsible for seizing any rival English ships that were transporting slaves.

It collapsed in 1667 during the war with the Netherlands — the very war it started by having company Admiral Robert Holmes attacking the Dutch African trade posts in 1664 — and re-emerged in 1672.

In the 1680s it was transporting about 5000 slaves per year. Many were branded with the letters 'DY', after its chief, the Duke of York, who succeeded his brother on the throne in 1688, becoming James II.

Between 1672 and 1689 it transported around 90,000-100,000 slaves. Its profits made a major contribution to the increase in the financial power of those who controlled London.

In 1698, it lost its monopoly. This was advantageous for merchants in Bristol, even if the Bristolian Edward Colston had already been involved in the Company. The number of slaves transported on English ships then increased dramatically.

The company continued slaving until 1731, when it abandoned slaving in favour of trafficking in ivory and gold dust. It was dissolved in 1752, its successor being the African Company.

The Royal African Company's logo depicted an elephant and castle.

From 1668 to 1722 the Royal African Company provided gold to the English Mint. Coins made with this gold bear an elephant below the bust of the king and/or queen. This gold also gave the coinage its name--the guinea.

And from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p269.html":

Long before the establishment of Jamestown, English captains had made occasional profits in the rising trans-Atlantic slave trade. Bur during the early years of the 17th century, the English generally viewed the trading of human lives with a certain degree of contempt. By 1640, however, with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the corresponding need for labor, the views of the English had changed. They, too, would become regular participants in the trade.

In 1660, the English government chartered a company called the "Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa." At first the company was mismanaged, but in 1663 it was reorganized. A new objective clearly stated that the company would engage in the slave trade. To the great dissatisfaction of England's merchants, only the Company of Royal Adventurers could now engage in the trade.

The Company did not fare well, due mainly to the war with Holland, and in 1667, it collapsed. But out of its ashes emerged a new company: The Royal African Company. Founded in 1672, the Royal African Company was granted a similar monopoly in the slave trade. Between 1680 and 1686, the Company transported an average of 5,000 slaves a year. Between 1680 and 1688, it sponsored 249 voyages to Africa.

Still, rival English merchants were not amused. In 1698, Parliament yielded to their demands and opened the slave trade to all. With the end of the monopoly, the number of slaves transported on English ships would increase dramatically -- to an average of over 20,000 a year.

By the end of the 17th century, England led the world in the trafficking of slaves.