The English monopoly that turned human lives into a corporate commodity

History · Published 19 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1660, a group of London merchants and the House of Stuart established a company to hunt for gold. Yet, this enterprise soon became the most prolific engine of the transatlantic slave trade, shipping more enslaved Africans to the Americas than any other single institution in history.

Formed amidst the 1660 Stuart Restoration, this enterprise was initially called the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa. While its primary objective was to locate gold deposits in the Gambia River—as identified by Prince Rupert of the Gold Coast—the company's charter was rapidly expanded. By 1663, the company's legal mandate explicitly included the trade of enslaved Africans. This shift transformed the company from a mineral-seeking enterprise into a massive human trafficking operation overseen by the Duke of York, the future King James II.

The company's operations were characterized by a brutal efficiency and a vast infrastructure of fortified trading posts, or 'factories', along the West African coast. These included sites like Cape Coast Castle, which served as an administrative hub, and Fort James on the Gambia River. The company even exercised martial law and maintained troops to protect its interests. The scale of the devastation was immense: between 1672 and 1731, the company invested in ships that transported 186,748 enslaved people to the Americas across 652 voyages. Tragically, records show that 16,077 individuals died during these Atlantic crossings.

The company's dominance was not permanent. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, the Trade with Africa Act of 1697 ended its exclusive monopoly, allowing other English merchants to trade in Africa provided they paid a 10 per cent levy. This increased competition, alongside the costs of various colonial wars, eventually led to insolvency by 1708. Although the company survived in a diminished capacity until 1752, its legacy remains defined by the systematic exploitation of human lives for corporate profit.

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