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University of Southampton Faculty of Humanities History Empire Later: England and West Africa, 1553-1631, and the Foundations of English Dominance in the Region in the Late Seventeenth Century by Lior Blum Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2019 Abstract University of Southampton Abstract Faculty of Humanities History Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Empire Later: England and West Africa, 1553-1631, and the Foundations of English Dominance in the Region in the Late Seventeenth Century Lior Blum This study examines English activity in West Africa during the years 1553-1631, and explores the ways in which it shaped the history of England’s engagement with the region in the later seventeenth century. A scholarly tendency to focus on the history of the Royal African Company (1672-1752), while overlooking the century of activity that preceded it, makes the rise of that organization to prominence during the closing decades of the seventeenth century to seem as an extraordinary and an explained event. This study, however, argues that a strong connection between the two periods does exist, as those early stages of English engagement with West Africa were instrumental in the making of England one of the most prominent powers in the region in the late seventeenth century. It is further argued that, as opposed to North America, the establishment of the English in West Africa during the first decades of engagement was not the result of a co-ordinated, planned effort, but was brought about by individual merchants who pursued narrow commercial interests. Thus, a great deal of contingency was involved in that process of establishment, and it is this feature which makes it unique in the history of England’s overseas expansion. Nevertheless, this study shows that English activity in West Africa in 1553-1631 is highly relevant in the wider context of England’s global pursuits, as the events which took place in that region at that time serves as a precursor of English activity on the other side of the Atlantic, in North America and the Caribbean. iii Abstract iv Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract iii Table of Contents v List of Tables and Images vi Declaration of Authorship ix Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1. West Africans and Europeans: the Balance of Power 4 2. The Time Frame 7 3. Historiography 10 4. Methodology 22 5. Structure 26 6. Dipping a Toe: England’s Engagement with West Africa prior to the 1550s 28 Chapter One: Ambition without Commitment: Why the English Failed to Gain a Foothold in West Africa during the Years 1553-1572 33 1. The Sources 35 2. The Emergence of the Barbary, West African, and Muscovy Trades 37 3. The Leading Merchants: Wealth, Power and Connections 41 4. English Activity in West Africa during the 1550s: Merchants and Crown Relations 49 5. English Activity in West Africa during the 1560s: Merchants and Crown Relations 55 6. The Other Branch of the West African Trade: Hawkins Slaving Voyages (1562-1568) 61 7. Profitability 65 8. The Demise of the English West African Trade and the Lost Decade (1567-1580) 70 Conclusion 74 Chapter Two: After the Gold Rush – English Re-establishment in West Africa, 1581-1613 77 1. The Sources 79 2. From Al Ksar al Kabir to Cap Vert 81 3. A West-Country Scramble for Africa 87 4. The Charter Party: The Triumph of Middle-Tier Merchants 93 5. West Africa for Beginners: The Petite Côte 97 6. The First Years of Trade (1588-1592) 103 v Table of Contents 7. The Adventurers’ Demise and the Later Years of the Senegambian Trade (1591-1613) 111 Conclusion 117 Chapter Three: Out of the Red: the Establishment of the Camwood Trade and its Unexpected Outcome, 1607-1618 119 1. The Sources 121 2. John Davies’ Early Career: a Wartime Privateer 121 3. John Davies and the West African Trade: Peace-Time Pioneer 127 4. The Camwood Trade 133 5. Under the Colonial Radar: the Portuguese and Sierra Leone 139 6. The Rise of Competition: Humphrey Slaney and the Camwood Trade 145 7. Profitability and Operation 153 Conclusion 159 Chapter Four: Misconception and Mismanagement - The Guinea Company, 1618-1631 161 1. The Sources 165 2. The Establishment of the Guinea Company: the Charter Holders and the 167 Charter 3. The Gambia Project: A Geographical Wishful Thinking 171 4. The Gambia: the Western Outpost of the Mali Empire 177 5. The Gambia Project, 1618-1621: a Chronicle of Failure Foretold 181 6. On a Collision Course: The Gambia Project and the Camwood Trade (1621-1628) 189 7. Money, Initiative, Vision: Crispe’s Takeover of the Guinea Company (1628- 1632) 193 Conclusion 201 Conclusion 203 Bibliography 211 vi List of Tables and Images List of Tables and Images Figure 1 : Recorded English voyages to West Africa, 1553-1568 36 Figure 2: The involvement of the ‘quintet’ and its ‘associates’ in the West African Trade 48 Figure 3: Details of the 1588-1589 Petite Côte voyage 107 Figure 4: Estimated cost of equipping the three Exeter ships of 1589 for ten months (in £ sterling) 107 Figure 5: A map of present-day Sierra Leone, with the locations of the Sierra Leone and Sherbro Rivers 144 Figure 6: Cheap Ward and its vicinity 152 Figure 7: An excerpt from Aphricae Tabula Nova (1570) 172 Figure 8: An excerpt from Africa ex Magna Orbis Terrae Descriptione (1595) 173 Figure 9: Map of West Africa’s medieval goldfields and modern mines 178 Figure 10: The drainage basin of the Gambia 184 vii List of Tables and Images viii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements It is my great pleasure to thank the following individuals who assisted me in the research and the writing process of this thesis. Dr. Christer Petley and Prof. Claire Jowitt, my supervisors, for providing me with constant guidance and support throughout my PhD studies. I am especially indebted to Prof. Jowitt for her meticulous proof reading of my work. Dr. François Soyer, my advisor, for his valuable comments, as well as for helping me translating Portuguese and Spanish texts. Dr. Craig Lambert and Dr. Gary Baker, for teaching me the rudiments of palaeography, thus opening for me the doors of the archives. Mr. Colin Greenstreet and Dr. Richard Blakemore, who facilitated my work with the records of the High Court of Admiralty. The Graduate School office’s team – Allison, Danny and Luke, who were always kind and helpful. Finally, I would like to thank my dear wife, Noga Blasberg-Blum, whose love, encouragement and patience made this work possible. xi Acknowledgements xii List of Abbreviations List of Abbreviations APC Acts of the Privy Council CSP Col. Calendar of State Papers Colonial CSPD Calendar of State Papers Domestic CSPF Calendar of State Papers Foreign CSPS Calendar of State Papers, Spain CSPSS Calendar of State Papers, Spain (Simancas) DRG The Discovery of the River Gambra EIC English East India Company GT The Golden Trade HCA High Court of Admiralty HP Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes K. R. King's Remembrancer PN1 The Principal Navigations of the English Nation, 1st Edition (1589) PN2 The Principal Navigations of the English Nation, 2nd Edition (1598-1600) RAC The Royal African Company WIC West-Indische Compagnie / Dutch West India Company xiii List of Abbreviations xiv Introduction Introduction The years 1550-1630 saw England’s overseas expansion process, which began tentatively in the 1480s, taking shape. During this period, the English established new trades, first with Morocco (Barbary), Russia, and West Africa, and later with the Levant and the Far East. From the first decade of the seventeenth century onward, this commercial activity was accompanied by the establishment of colonies in Ireland, on the Atlantic coast of North America, and in the Caribbean. Despite this burst in overseas activity, England’s efforts across the globe amounted by the early 1630s to a few small, and fragile, possessions that one could hardly regard as an empire. The modest achievements of the English during these eight decades indicate that the process of establishment was difficult, to say the least. There was no region where that process was more difficult than in West Africa, which was one of the first regions encountered by the English during that period. While the years 1553-1631 saw the establishment, development and, ultimately, growth of England’s West African trade, this process was far from linear and straightforward. After making a promising start in the 1550s and 1560s, during which their commercial pursuits ranged from Sierra Leone to Benin, the English had to cease their engagement with West Africa for the whole of the 1570s due to Portuguese opposition.