View this item elsewhere:

Title
An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa
Names
Great Britain. Parliament (Creator)
Collection

Sidney Lapidus Slavery and Abolition Collection

Dates / Origin
Date Issued: 1750
Place: London
Publisher: by the Assigns of Robert Baskett
Library locations
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Shelf locator: SC Rare Lapidus Collection Box 1 Folder 3
Topics
Slavery
Slave trade
Blacks
Enslaved persons
Great Britain -- Commerce -- Africa
Genres
Administrative acts
Notes
Content: Issued with a general title page, and also as part of: 'Anno Regni Georgii II. Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, vicesimo tertio. At the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster, the tenth day of November, 1747. And from thence continued . to the sixteenth day of November, 1749, being the third session of this present Parliament.'
Content: Signed on first leaf of text: 6Y2; press fig. 3 on p.547.
Ownership: Copy in SC Rare Lapidus Collection Box 1 Folder 3 stamped in ink, on page 546, "Exchange Baker Library Harvard University January 1, 1944." NN
Physical Description
Extent: Original wrappers. 10 pages. 19x30 cm.
Description
An important act that vastly enlarged the number of slaves taken from Africa. Established in 1662, the Royal Company of Adventures Trading to Africa was given exclusive rights to take slaves for the West Indian plantations. It functioned like most companies, issuing stock and etc., however the beneficiaries of the grant were uniquely the Merchants of London. In 1672, it was reformed as the Royal African Company. In 1698 the trade was opened entirely and was not controlled. Finally, with this act, the trade was to be completely free but no traders were to be incorporated under the name of The Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, with the crown charging forty guineas per ship. This caused the price of slaves to drop dramatically, making fortunes on both sides of the Atlantic. It was after the passage of this act that the greatest number of people were enslaved each year.
Type of Resource
Text
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 38366043
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20843740
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 2c862c50-9d31-0133-dd60-00505686d14e
Rights Statement
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, "From The New York Public Library," and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.

Item timeline of events

  • 1750: Issued
  • 2016: Digitized
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1750. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5b08efa0-c3ac-0133-5dd1-00505686a51c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5b08efa0-c3ac-0133-5dd1-00505686a51c

APA Format

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. (1750). An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5b08efa0-c3ac-0133-5dd1-00505686a51c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5b08efa0-c3ac-0133-5dd1-00505686a51c | title= (text) An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa, (1750) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=November 2, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

An act for extending and improving the trade to Africa