African Company of Merchants
The African Company of Merchants or Company of Merchants Trading to Africa was a British chartered company operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Gold Coast area of modern Ghana, engaged in the Atlantic slave trade.
Background
The company was established by the
The assets of the Royal African Company were transferred to the new company and consisted primarily of nine trading posts or
African Committee
The company was managed by the African Committee, which was composed of nine committee members, three each from London, Liverpool and Bristol. The constitution stipulated that the committee should be elected annually from the general body of traders from these cities, who paid 40 shillings to be admitted to the company. According to the constitution, these committee members could only hold the post for three years. However, in 1772 a series of pamphlets were published claiming that the Committee members were not acting properly.[3]
The company was funded by an annual grant approved by Parliament, which covered the costs of the London office and the forts. The committee had to report to the
The imperial government prohibited the
See also
- List of committee members of the African Company of Merchants
- Ashanti–Akim–Akwapim War
- Thomas Edward Bowdich
- List of members of the African Company of Merchants
References
- ^ a b c Adams, Robert; Adams, Charles (2005). The Narrative of Robert Adams, A Barbary Captive: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa". Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ ISSN 0855-3246.
- ^ Bowdich, Thomas Edward (1819). "Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee: With a Statistical Account of that Kingdom, and Geographical Notices of Other Parts of the Interior of Africa". J. Murray.