Prologue to Morice: Anglo-African Trade Under the Royal African Company Monopoly

Matthew David Mitchell ()
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Matthew David Mitchell: Sewanee: The University of the South

Chapter Chapter 2 in The Prince of Slavers, 2020, pp 9-50 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Laying a baseline for the study of Humphry Morice’s method of trading, Mitchell studies the methods used by the Royal African Company (RAC) between its chartering in 1672 and the loss of its monopoly in 1698. This chapter establishes that the main problem facing any European trader in Africa was the problem of discovering what African merchants wanted to buy in exchange for the commodities and enslaved persons they offered. By maintaining and staffing permanent trading posts on the coast, the Royal African Company built a strong position in this market; however, the heavy cost of this strategy consumed most of the trade’s potential profits. It also left room for new market entrants to innovate cheaper methods of solving the basic informational problem.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psitcp:978-3-030-33839-8_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-33839-8_2

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