Gambia Adventurers

Royal African Company

Logo of the Royal African Company
Formerly called	Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa
Former type	Private
Industry	Mercantile trading
Founded	1660 (1660) in London, England
Founders	House of Stewart (British Royal Family)
Defunct	1752 (1752)
Key people	James II, Charles II
Products	Gold, silver, ivory, slaves

The Royal African Company was a mercantile company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants to trade along the west coast of Africa. It was led by James, Duke of York, Charles II's brother. Its original purpose was to exploit the gold fields up the Gambia River, which were identified by Prince Rupert during the Interregnum. It was established after Charles II gained the English throne in the Restoration of 1660. However, it was soon engaged in the slave trade as well as with other commodities.

Originally known as the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa, by its charter issued in 1660 it was granted a monopoly over English trade with West Africa. With the help of the army and navy, it established forts on the West African coast that served as staging and trading stations and was responsible for seizing any English ships that attempted to operate in violation of the company's monopoly. In the prize court, the King received half of the proceeds and the company half.

The company fell heavily into debt in 1667, during the war with the Netherlands, the very war it had itself started when its Admiral Robert Holmes had attacked the Dutch African trade posts in 1664, as it had lost most of its forts on the African coast except for Cape Corse. For several years after that, the company maintained some desultory trade, including licensing single-trip private traders, but its biggest effort was the creation in 1668 of the Gambia Adventurers, a new company separately subscribed and granted a ten-year license for African trade north of the Bight of Benin with effect from 1 January 1669. In 1672, the original Company re-emerged, re-structured and with a new charter from the king, as the new Royal African Company. Its new charter was broader than the old one and included the right to set up forts and factories, maintain troops and exercise martial law in West Africa, in pursuit of trade in gold, silver and slaves. At the end of 1678, the license to the Gambia Adventurers expired and its Gambian trade was merged into the company.