94 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavementoperated under charters that had not been offi cially enacted
by the British Parliament. Prior to the establishment of the
Company, slavery scarcely existed in the colonies. As a re-
sult of the establishment of the Company, the British are
credited with exporting millions of Africans to the colonies
against their will. Th e Company was headed by the Duke
of York, James II (the person whom New York is named
for and who later became King of England). Ironically, the
most famous of all its investors was the English philosopher
John Locke. Th e king of Britain at the time was Charles II,
who personally advocated and promoted slavery.
Even before Christopher Columbus landed in the Ca-
ribbean, occasionally sailors and pirates had profi ted from
slave traffi cking, but it was never that prevalent. It was re-
garded as a “dirty” business in those days. What might be
considered as a “great English paradox” is that the society
and culture of England in the early 1600s saw slavery as very
immoral and unethical. In order to supply labor, the Royal
African Company was established mostly through corrupt
bargaining and by the British Crown under King Charles II,
who encouraged slave trade. With no offi cial policy as to its
purpose, the original Royal charter granted by the king was
to the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa,
which would later become the Royal African Company.
In the offi cial charter granted in 1660, exclusive privileges
were given to the Company for African trading. In 1662,
slave trading privileges were granted to the Company.
Th e London merchants now had a monopoly over the
trade, which, even in 1660, brought complaints of others
who wanted access to the African trade. Th e fi rst few years
of the Company were unprofi table. Th e Company was re-
structured in 1663 and thereaft er became very profi table.
Aft er 1663, the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading
to Africa focused almost entirely on the slave trade. From
1663–1670, the Company’s average profi ts were 100,000
British pounds annually. Aft er 1670, the Company began
to struggle with the emergence of other private traders
who began to reduce the Company’s profi ts. Adding to the
Company’s problems were the Second Anglo-Dutch War
(1664–1667) and the Th ird Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674).
In 1667, the Company was in fi nancial ruin, and the British
Crown provided the fi nancial resources to keep it function-
ing. Trading and commercial activity was also restricted in
the period between the two wars from 1667 through 1672.
For a brief period in 1672, it was forced to stop trading
entirely.being appointed to the Council of State and serving in the
House of Burgesses. He continued planting and farming to-
bacco on his plantation, and he married the daughter of an
English colonist. To this marriage was born a daughter.
Powhatan died eight years aft er his daughter had mar-
ried Rolfe. During that time relations between Powhatan’s
federation and the settlers remained peaceful and the Jame-
stown community expanded into a permanent settlement.
Aft er Powhatan’s death, tensions increased between the
settlers and the Powhatans and relations between the two
groups deteriorated. In 1622, Rolfe died unexpectedly and
suddenly. It is not clear whether his death was the result of
an illness or of an Indian attack led by Pocahontas’s uncle,
Opechancanough.
See also: Chesapeake Colonies; Jamestown, Virginia; Tobacco
Nancy A. McCaslinBibliography
Grizzard, Frank E., and D. Boyd Smith. Jamestown Colony: A Po-
litical, Social, and Cultural History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-
CLIO, 2007.
Horn, James P. P., ed. Writings: With Other Narratives of Roanoke,
Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America. New
York: Library of America, 2007.
Royal African Company
Th e Royal African Company, a slave-trading organiza-
tion originally called “Th e Company of Royal Adventurers
Trading to Africa,” was chartered in Great Britain in 1662.
Th e Company has been attributed with providing for an in-
creasing demand for laborers and expanding the number
and traffi cking of slaves to unprecedented levels. Th e mar-
ket for sugar as well as other raw products and materials
began to rise in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th cen-
turies. Labor became increasingly more diffi cult to supply
to the growing and developing colonies. Individuals with a
vested self-interest lobbied the British government for an
exclusive charter that would grant them a virtual monopoly
on the slave trade to North America. Prior to the creation
of Th e Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa,
there were three other commercial entities companies in op-
eration. All three companies had exclusive Royal Charters
that had been granted by the British Crown entitling them
to a monopoly on the African markets. Th ose companies