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Prelude to m’zungu colonisation of Africa

"Veni, Vidi,"

Africa for profit. It was a trading company trading in slaves, and redwood (used for dyes)

from the western Africa (today parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone). At its height, the
Guinea Company owned and operated fifteen cargo ships.

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King James I in 1618, granted the company a 31-year monopoly on the exportation of
goods from West Africa to be imported into England.

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The Guinea Company had a great deal of growth with Nicholas Crispe, who had become

the controlling stockholder in 1628.

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In 1631 a new charter was formed and granted to the "Company of Merchants Trading to

Guinea". Like the first charter in 1618, this too was for 31 years, but it was from Cape
Blanco to the Cape of Good Hope.”

"Guinea Company (London)." 49
Wikipedia
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The Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa

" Originally known as the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa, by its charter

issued in 1660, it was granted a monopoly over English trade along the west coast of
Africa, with the principal objective being the search for gold. In 1663, a new charter was
obtained which also mentioned the trade in slaves. This was the third English African

Company, but it made a fresh start in the slave trade.

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The African Company was ruined by its losses and surrendered its charter in 1672, to be
followed by the still more ambitious Royal African Company of England.

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In the 1680s the Company was transporting about 5,000 slaves a year to markets
primarily in the Caribbean across the Atlantic. Many were branded with the letters "DY",

for its Governor, the Duke of York, who succeeded his brother on the throne in 1685,
becoming King James II. Other slaves were branded with the company's initials, RAC, on
their chests.

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Between 1662 and 1731, the Company transported approximately 212,000 slaves, of

whom 44,000 died en route.

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