Royal African Company

The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England; the RAC was founded after Charles II ascended to the English throne in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, and he granted it a monopoly on all English trade with Africa. While the company's original purpose was to trade for gold in the Gambia River, as Prince Rupert of the Rhine had identified gold deposits in the region during the Interregnum, the RAC quickly considered enslaved humans as commodity and began trading in them.

Historians have estimated that the RAC shipped more enslaved Africans to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade than any other company. The RAC also dealt in commodities such as ivory that were primarily sourced from the Gold Coast region. After William III of England rescinded the company's monopoly in 1697 under pressure from the Parliament of England, the RAC became insolvent by 1708, though it survived in a state of much reduced activity until 1752, when its assets were transferred to the newly founded African Company of Merchants, which lasted until 1821.

History

Background

On the west coast of Africa the few Europeans lived in fortified factory (trading posts). They had no sovereignty over the land or its inhabitants; they had very little immunity to tropical diseases, so they were at risk for illness and death. The coastal tribes acted as intermediaries between Europeans and Africans enslaving humans in the interior. There was little incentive for European men to explore up the rivers, and few of them did so.