James Macqueen (1778-1870) — sometimes MacQueen — was a Scottish geographer, statistician, political campaigner, pro-slavery activist, banker and businessman, noted for founding the Colonial Bank and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. An expert on African geography, he advocated the colonisation of that continent many decades before the so-called "Scramble for Africa" (1881-1914). He was co-owner and editor of the ; wrote in London on politics, geography, economics, and general literature; and founded a bank in Mauritius.