Commercial rivalries with Holland over control of the African trade sparked the Second Anglo-Dutch War from 1665 to 1667. The arrival of a Dutch naval force intent on retaking forts on Africa’s Gold Coast further eroded the company’s tenuous position. In 1665, the Royal Adventurers ran into financial difficulties resulting from mounting unpaid debts owed by colonial planters who had purchased African captives from the company on credit. The company’s initial success was short-lived, however. The message to the public was clear: The king had successfully expanded English interests in Africa, enriching the mother country and strengthening its Atlantic empire. In England, new coins minted from African gold, known as “ guineas,” entered circulation, stamped with an elephant-the distinctive emblem of the Royal Adventurers-under the monarch’s head. Controlling English trade with West Africa-in gold, hides, ivory, redwood, and, ultimately, slaves-offered the prospect of a revenue stream that would enable the Crown to gain financial independence from Parliament.
The king lent the company a number of royal ships, including a vessel called the Blackamoor, and reserved for himself the right to two-thirds of the value of any gold mines discovered. The charter gave the Royal Adventurers a 1,000-year monopoly over trade, land, and adjacent islands along the west coast of Africa stretching from what was then known as Cape Blanco (western Sahara) in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the south. Seeking to bolster the wealth and power of the restored monarchy and to supplant the Dutch in the Atlantic trading system, Charles granted a charter to the Company of Royal Adventurers Into Africa, a private joint-stock company, less than six months after ascending the throne. Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.ĭuring the reign of King Charles II, from 1660 to 1685, the Crown and members of the royal family invested heavily in the African slave trade.
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