In this year, Elizabeth, always attentive to whatever would benefit commerce, sent an ambassador to the Emperor of Morocco, who obtained some commercial privileges for the English.  In 1588, the first voyage to Benin was made from London, by a ship and a pinnace:  in 1590, a second voyage was made from the same port with the same vessels.  Their exports were linen, woollen cloths, iron manufactures, bracelets of copper, glass beads, coral, hawks’ bells, horses’ tails, hats, &c.  They imported Guinea pepper, elephants’ teeth, palm oil, cotton cloth, and cloth made of the bark of trees.

An African Company had been formed in Elizabeth’s reign; but neither this, nor two others succeeded; their ruin was occasioned by war, misconduct, and the interference of what were called interlopers.  In 1672, a fourth company was established, whose efforts at first seem to have been great and successful.  They bought the forts the former companies had erected on the west coast:  instead of making up their assortments of goods for export in Holland, as the former companies had been obliged to do, they introduced into England the making of sundry kinds of woollen goods not previously manufactured.  They imported large quantities of gold dust, out of which 50,000 guineas were first coined in one year, 1673.  Their other imports were red wood for dyes, elephants’ teeth, wax, honey, &c.  The value of the English goods exported to them averaged annually 70,000_l_.  This company was broken up at the Revolution.

II.  Though the Portuguese and Spaniards were very jealous of the interference of any nation with their East India commerce; yet they were comparatively easy and relaxed with regard to their American possessions.  Accordingly, we find that, in 1530, there was some little trade between England and Brazil:  this is the first notice we can trace of any commercial intercourse between this country and the New World.  The first voyage was from Plymouth:  in 1540 and 1542 the merchants of Southampton and London also traded to Brazil.  We are not informed what were the goods imported; but most probably they were Brazil wood, sugar, and cotton.  The trade continued till 1580, when Spain, getting possession of Portugal, put a stop to it.

The next notice of any trading voyage to America occurs in 1593, when some English ships sailed to the entrance of the St. Lawrence for morse and whale fishing.  This is the first mention of the latter fishery, or of whale fins, or whale bones by the English.  They could not find any whales; but on an island they met with 800 whale fins, the remains of a cargo of a Biscay ship which had been wrecked here.