16th century – 18th century
North, West, Central and East Africa
European competition on the African coast intensified from the sixteenth century as France, England, and the Netherlands challenged Portuguese commercial predominance. Rival states and chartered companies sought gold, ivory, enslaved people, and strategic trading posts, often using naval force and fortified settlements. Control shifted repeatedly across Senegambia, the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, and parts of Central and East Africa. By the eighteenth century, England had become the leading trading power on much of the West African coast.
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The Story
Portuguese predominance along African coasts was challenged from the 1520s by French traders, from the 1550s by English expeditions, and from the late sixteenth century by the Dutch. These powers initially combined private commerce, maritime raiding, and exploratory voyages. Their competition was shaped by wider European wars, access to capital, the ability to supply African markets with manufactured goods, and the strategic value of coastal forts and harbours.
French activity became particularly strong around Cape Verde and Senegal. By the last quarter of the sixteenth century, French merchants operated in Gorée, Portudal, Joal, and Rufisque in Wolof country, exchanging textiles, spirits, metal goods, and firearms for gold, ivory, pepper, hides, and palm oil. French arms supplies helped them compete with Portugal, whose crown had long prohibited the export of firearms to Africa. The French eventually displaced Portugal in the Senegal and Gambia estuaries before losing ground to England.
English companies established relations with Morocco after the Portuguese departure from much of the Moroccan coast in 1541 and sent expeditions toward the Gulf of Benin between 1550 and 1565. By the end of the sixteenth century, English influence had grown around Senegambia, where English traders had ousted both Portuguese and French competitors. The first English company for trading with Guinea was founded in 1588, although the chapter suggests that Atlantic privateering could sometimes appear more profitable than African commerce.
Dutch traders entered the African coast during their war with Spain and Portugal. Between 1593 and 1607, approximately 200 ships departed from Holland for Africa. The Dutch reached Gorée in 1594 and 1595, traded in Benin, and built Fort Nassau at Mouri on the Gold Coast in 1611. By 1617 they had become dominant at Gorée and had displaced Portuguese, English, and French traders in Joal, Portudal, and Rufisque, retaining this position for more than fifty years.
Competition increasingly centred on the control of enslaved labour and the fortified infrastructure that supported its export. The Royal African Company, founded in 1672, controlled much of England’s external trade through the West African coast during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, but its monopoly was gradually restricted after 1689. In the eighteenth century, English merchants, especially those from Liverpool, used industrial goods from Britain to expand their commercial reach, while France and the Netherlands remained active in Senegal, the Slave Coast, Cameroon, and Loango.
16th century – 18th century
North, West, Central and East Africa
European competition on the African coast intensified from the sixteenth century as France, England, and the Netherlands challenged Portuguese commercial predominance. Rival states and chartered companies sought gold, ivory, enslaved people, and strategic trading posts, often using naval force and fortified settlements. Control shifted repeatedly across Senegambia, the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, and parts of Central and East Africa. By the eighteenth century, England had become the leading trading power on much of the West African coast.
Continue exploring
The Story
Portuguese predominance along African coasts was challenged from the 1520s by French traders, from the 1550s by English expeditions, and from the late sixteenth century by the Dutch. These powers initially combined private commerce, maritime raiding, and exploratory voyages. Their competition was shaped by wider European wars, access to capital, the ability to supply African markets with manufactured goods, and the strategic value of coastal forts and harbours.
French activity became particularly strong around Cape Verde and Senegal. By the last quarter of the sixteenth century, French merchants operated in Gorée, Portudal, Joal, and Rufisque in Wolof country, exchanging textiles, spirits, metal goods, and firearms for gold, ivory, pepper, hides, and palm oil. French arms supplies helped them compete with Portugal, whose crown had long prohibited the export of firearms to Africa. The French eventually displaced Portugal in the Senegal and Gambia estuaries before losing ground to England.
English companies established relations with Morocco after the Portuguese departure from much of the Moroccan coast in 1541 and sent expeditions toward the Gulf of Benin between 1550 and 1565. By the end of the sixteenth century, English influence had grown around Senegambia, where English traders had ousted both Portuguese and French competitors. The first English company for trading with Guinea was founded in 1588, although the chapter suggests that Atlantic privateering could sometimes appear more profitable than African commerce.
Dutch traders entered the African coast during their war with Spain and Portugal. Between 1593 and 1607, approximately 200 ships departed from Holland for Africa. The Dutch reached Gorée in 1594 and 1595, traded in Benin, and built Fort Nassau at Mouri on the Gold Coast in 1611. By 1617 they had become dominant at Gorée and had displaced Portuguese, English, and French traders in Joal, Portudal, and Rufisque, retaining this position for more than fifty years.
Competition increasingly centred on the control of enslaved labour and the fortified infrastructure that supported its export. The Royal African Company, founded in 1672, controlled much of England’s external trade through the West African coast during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, but its monopoly was gradually restricted after 1689. In the eighteenth century, English merchants, especially those from Liverpool, used industrial goods from Britain to expand their commercial reach, while France and the Netherlands remained active in Senegal, the Slave Coast, Cameroon, and Loango.
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