Edward Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.
Portrait by Jonathan Richardson
Cromwell House, Mortlake, west London, where Colston died in 1721. He was buried in Bristol.
Colston's Almshouses
Engraving of Colston's monument in All Saints' Church, Bristol from Bristol Past and Present (1882)
The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England; the RAC was founded after Charles II ascended to the English throne in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, and he granted it a monopoly on all English trade with Africa. While the company's original purpose was to trade for gold in the Gambia River, as Prince Rupert of the Rhine had identified gold deposits in the region during the Interregnum, the RAC quickly began trading in slaves, which became its largest commodity.
1686 English guinea showing the Royal African Company's symbol, an elephant and castle, under the bust of James II