Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Part of Trade and Economy — GCSE History
This memory aid covers Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts within Trade and Economy for GCSE History. Revise Trade and Economy in Restoration England 1660-1685 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 12 of 14 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
Topic position
Section 12 of 14
Practice
8 questions
Recall
4 flashcards
🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Trading companies — "EAR HB": Remember England's four great trading companies with this sequence:
- E — East India Company (founded 1600 — the oldest)
- A — African Company = Royal African Company (founded 1660, slave trade monopoly)
- R — Royal patron = the Duke of York (James, later James II — his initials branded enslaved people)
- H — Hudson's Bay Company (founded 1670, Canadian fur trade — still exists!)
- B — "B" for Brands — the Company branded enslaved Africans "DY" (Duke of York)
The initialism "EAR HB" also reminds you that you should "hear" (EAR) these companies mentioned in ANY question about Restoration trade, wealth, or the Dutch wars.
Triangular trade — "GAM": The three legs of the triangular trade in order:
- G — Goods to Africa (English manufactured goods: cloth, weapons, metal tools)
- A — Africans to the Americas (enslaved people transported on the "Middle Passage")
- M — Materials back to England (sugar, tobacco, cotton, rum)
Think "GAM" as in "the whole GAME of Atlantic trade" — it only works as a system when all three legs run together.
Coffee house legacy — "LIS": What coffee houses gave us:
- L — Lloyd's of London (insurance — from Lloyd's Coffee House, Tower Street)
- I — Information sharing (news of ships, commodity prices, creditworthy partners)
- S — Stock trading (Jonathan's Coffee House in Exchange Alley became the Stock Exchange)
Key dates sequence — "1600, 1651, 1660, 1665, 1666, 1670": These six dates tell the whole story of Restoration trade. East India Company (1600) — the foundation. Navigation Act (1651) — the legal framework. Restoration + Royal African Company (1660) — the starting gun. Plague (1665) — disruption. Fire (1666) — rebuilding. Hudson's Bay Company (1670) — further expansion. Memorise them in pairs: 1600/1651, 1660/1665, 1666/1670.
The "100,000 number": The Royal African Company transported over 100,000 enslaved Africans. This single statistic appears in almost every AQA mark scheme question touching on trade, the slave trade, or the Duke of York. Make sure you can write it fluently: "The Royal African Company, founded in 1660, transported over 100,000 enslaved Africans before losing its monopoly in 1698."