Captain Thomas Wyndham: Tudor Merchant Adventurer
Raymond Tong describes how Britain's connections with West Africa began four centuries ago, when Wyndham sailed to Benin in search of gold and pepper.
When one considers the rapid political developments that are taking place in the Gold Coast and Nigeria, it is interesting to recall that the British have only worked in those countries as administrators, teachers and missionaries for a little over a century. Before this period of ever-increasing humanitarian endeavour, Britain’s interest in the Guinea Coast was confined, like that of most European nations, to an exotic and perilous trade in slaves, gold, ivory, pepper and palm-oil. This mercantile connection was, however, a fairly long one, stretching back a further three centuries to the reign of Mary Tudor.
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