Settling the Trade to Africa: The Anglo-African Trade, 1695-1715, and the Political and Economic Implications of 1698

Looking at the 'Act to Settle the Trade to Africa' of 1698, this thesis illustrates the multiple forces at work which shaped the English trade with West Africa for much of the eighteenth century, as well as the effects of the trade's deregulation on English political and commercial society. In doing so, we uncover a thorough understanding of the global implications of the Anglo-African trade, as well as the imperial ideology behind the English legislation regarding West Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using the heretofore unacknowledged tax books of the Royal African Company, specific information regarding the intricacies of RAC trade and its dealings with the separate traders also becomes apparent.