vious to that time the west coast of Africa vied with the East
Indies for popular attention, and the English African companies often
appeared to be but little less important than the great East India
Company.

The cause for the popular esteem of the African coast during the
earlier centuries was the intimate connection which the slave trade
had with the development of the English plantations in the West
Indies. About the middle of the seventeenth century the growing of
sugar cane and other products in the West Indies began to open up
enormous possibilities which, it was universally agreed, could be
realized only by the extensive use of Negro slaves. At the restoration
of Charles II in 1660 the English commercial class directly supported
and assisted by the king's courtiers determined to secure as large a
portion of the West African coast as possible. To reach this end they
organized that year The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa.
This decision at once brought the company into conflict with the Dutch
West India Company, which, during the twenty years of domestic trouble
in England, had all but monopolized the desirable portion of the West
African coast.

It happened therefore that the Company of Royal Adventurers played a
very important part in the events which led up to the Anglo-Dutch war
of 1665-67. The war resulted in the financial ruin of the company
which was in existence only about eleven years, at the end of which
time it was succeeded by the much larger and better organized Royal
African Company.

It has seemed to the author as if the English African companies were a
very profitable field of historical investigation. Therefore, the
present dissertation on the Company of Royal Adventurers will be
followed shortly by a history of the Royal African Company, 1672-1752.

For assistance in writing the history of the Royal Adventurers Trading
into Africa I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the librarians,
and officials of the British Record Office, the British Museum, the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Rijks Archief at The Hague, and the
Cornell University Library. To Professor R. C. H. Catterall, now
deceased, I am greatly indebted for reading the manuscript of this
book, and for many valuable suggestions. Above all, I wish to express
my deep appreciation to my wife, Susie Zook, for her unfailing
inspiration and her constant assistance in the writing of this book.

CHAPTER I

EARLY DUTCH AN