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The Crispe Family and the African Trade in the Seventeenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

R. Porter
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Extract

Nicholas Crispe (1598–1666) played a very important part in the developing of English trading contacts with West Africa in the seventeenth century. He obtained a commanding position within the African company in 1628 and did much to secure the company's reconstitution on a sounder basis in 1631. From 1631 until 1644 Crispe was the driving force behind the trade and, in particular, directed and largely financed the successful English entry into the gold trade of the Gold Coast, where permanent English factories with resident traders were established for the first time and a fort was started at Kormantin. After the Restoration he tried to regain his former position, but was unsuccessful, though his membership of the Company of Adventurers did give him some influence on the trade. Other members of the family were also involved in the African trade, sometimes in a significant way, over the same period.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 1968 , pp. 57 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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