Random pic 15 February 2025
The Royal Charter, signed by Charles II, authorising the transatlantic slave trade. (From the Hew Locke exhibition at the British Museum.) https://flic.kr/p/2qJdj91Sovereigns and enslavement:In 1660 Charles Il,King of England, Scotland and Ireland, his brother the Duke of York, and City of London merchants founded the Company of Royal Adventurers into Africa, which trafficked people from Africa across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and beyond. This later became the Royal African Company.This is a difficult, sometimes ignored piece of English history. As Locke says: "Which history We remember depends on what's been made visible for you".Charter granted to the Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, 1663This charter, issued by Charles I1, formalised and controlled England's involvement in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. It granted the company a monopoly over the transportation of people from Africa to English colonies in the Americas.Bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane, The British Library(It's interesting that this charter doesn't crop up much in popular history. Which history is more important? ls it that this monarch was a Catholic or a Protestant? Or that this monarch kick-started something truly horrendous? - Hew Locke)
Michael Ixer ● 83d0 Comments