Charter granted to the Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, Sloane MS...

Sloane MS 205, f.8v. This charter, issued by King Charles II (1630–1685) in 1663, represents the moment at which the transatlantic slave trade officially began, with royal approval, in the English (later British) Empire. This led to the rapid expansion of British involvement in the slave trade and enslavement of Africans. It is estimated that between 1663 and the end of the 17th century Britain had enslaved and transported over 332,000 Africans across the Atlantic where the majority were forced to work on plantations producing sugar, tobacco and other crops for European consumers. Of this figure, it is estimated that approximately 254,000 Africans disembarked from British ships.