Parliament regulates the Africa trade
The growing trade with Africa soon came under the gaze of Parliament.
The Royal Africa Company's monopoly in particular angered other merchants who wanted a share of the trade. The 1698 Trade with Africa Bill – which proposed that the company's monopoly be broken - became an Act in the same year.
Many traders and merchants did not want regulation and duties applied to the Africa trade. They expressed themselves through pamphlets and petitions to Parliament. As the latter became involved in the regulation of the trade, it discovered a lot more about it.