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As early as 1434 the ''Casa de Ceuta'' was founded in Lisbon, but it was not very successful because the Muslim merchants diverted the trade routes from [[Ceuta]] to other places. Around 1443 in [[Lagos]], Algarve, the ''Casa de Arguim'' and ''[[Company of Guinea|Casa da Guiné]]'', were established to administer Prince [[Henry the Navigator]]'s monopoly on African trade - essentially a set of sheds, warehouses and customs offices, dedicated to outfitting ships, hiring captains and crews, handing out trading licenses, receiving and selling goods and collecting dues. After the death of [[Henry the Navigator]] in 1460, both houses were moved by King [[Afonso V of Portugal]] from [[Lagos, Portugal|Lagos]] to [[Lisbon]].
The ascension of King [[John II of Portugal]] in 1481 revived the royal interest in African trade. In 1482, upon erecting the fortress of [[Elmina|São Jorge da Mina]] to access the [[Akan people|Akan]] goldfields and markets,<ref name="Bakewell">{{cite book|author=Wilks,Ivor. Wangara, Akan, and Portuguese in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries|editor1-last=Bakewell|editor1-first=Peter|title=Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas|date=1997|publisher=Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Aldershot|pages=1-39}}</ref>
John II overhauled the old houses and organized the system into two new institutions in Lisbon - the royal trading house, the ''Casa da Mina e Tratos de Guiné'', focused on commercial aspects of African trade (goods, licenses, dues), and the separate royal naval arsenal, the ''Armazém da Guiné'', to handle nautical matters (ship construction, nautical supplies, hiring of crews, etc.) In 1486, after the opening of contact with [[Benin Empire|Benin]], John II established the ''Casa de Escravos'', as a distinct [[slave]]-trading department of the ''Casa da Mina''. With the discovery of a sea route to [[India]] by [[Vasco da Gama]] in 1497-99, the [[spice trade]] became a new and important activity of the royal trading house, and old ''Casa'' was renamed ''Casa da Índia e da Guiné'' (the first written reference to a ''Casa da Índia'' was in a royal letter dated 1501).
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