Royal African Company

E20815

The Royal African Company was a 17th- and 18th-century English trading company that held a monopoly over British trade on the West African coast, playing a central role in the transatlantic slave trade.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf British slave-trading company
chartered company
trading company
alsoKnownAs RAC
built forts on the West African coast
trading posts on the West African coast
charterGrantedBy Charles II of England
charterYear 1672
country Kingdom of England
dissolved 1752
flag Royal African Company flag
foundedBy Charles II of England
City of London merchants
House of Stuart
James, Duke of York
grantedBy Royal charter
headquartersLocation London
inception 1672
industry commodity trade
gold trade
ivory trade
slave trade
languageOfName English
laterCountry Kingdom of Great Britain
legalForm joint-stock company
mainActivity capture and transport of enslaved Africans to the Americas
export of gold from West Africa
export of ivory from West Africa
monopolyEnded 1698
monopolyEndedBy Act of Parliament allowing separate traders
monopolyOn English trade in enslaved Africans
English trade on the West African coast
notableFort Cape Coast Castle
Fort James, Gambia
Fort William, Anomabu
precededBy Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa
roleInHistory central role in the English transatlantic slave trade
instrument of English imperial expansion in West Africa
shareholdersIncluded English aristocracy
English royalty
London merchants
successor African Company of Merchants
tradingRegion Bight of Benin
Caribbean colonies
English colonies in North America
Gambia River region
Gold Coast
Sierra Leone coast
West Africa
transportedEnslavedAfricans tens of thousands of people

Referenced by (3)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
asiento de negros contract ("British Asiento")
hasAlternativeName
British Empire
majorCompany
Royal African Company ("African Company of Merchants")
successor

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