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7 Britain and the Slave Trade
British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade officially began in 1663, when Charles II granted the Royal Company of Merchant Adventurers a monopoly on the transportation of humans from the west coast of Africa to the English colonies in the Americas in a charter that sanction “the buying and selling, bartering and exchanging of, for, and with any negro slaves, goods, wares and merchandizes whatsoever to be vended or found’ in western Africa” (ff. 8v–9r). Over the next four decades, over 300 thousand Africans had been enslaved and transported to plantations in the colonies, over 250 thousand in British ships. The horror was just the beginning. For a succinct overview of this human trafficking, see “Britain’s Involvement with New World Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.”
British Involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Gallery
Guided by Nicholas Hoffman
The graph above represents the movement of enslaved Africans during the long history of the European-American slave trade. The 18th century witnessed a staggering expansion of the global institution of slavery, despite abolitionist efforts to eradicate or otherwise curtail it. The last quarter of the 18th century alone saw the abduction, movement, and extortion of over 2 million Africans—all facilitated by prevailing ideologies of white supremacy, powerful European maritime and economic interests, and eager American markets. (Source: Wikipedia)
“A Liverpool Slave Ship.” Painting by 18th-century artist William Jackson (fl. ca. 1770–ca.1803). The 18th-century British Empire inhabited a central economic, political, and logistical role in the Triangular Trade. The English city of Liverpool served as a major hub for the transport of enslaved Black bodies. Liverpool was the maritime “capital” of the European trade in human beings from the late 18th century until its abolition. A recent article in the Liverpool Echo reflects on the global Black Lives Matter protests and the history of racialized violence still visible in the facades of Liverpool today. Liverpool is home to the International Slavery Museum, which has been an active participant in these ongoing discussions of history, slavery, and Black liberation. (c) Merseyside Maritime Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
A diagram depicting the interior of the 18th-century British slave ship, Brookes. The schematic gives a startling impression of the inhumanity of the Middle Passage. Black bodies, as dehumanized commodities in the eyes of their enslavers, were organized to maximize white European profits—sorted, packed, and stacked. One fifth of those captured and placed on ships such as the Brookes would die en route to the households and plantations of the Americas.
Ottobah Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic (1787). Cugoano, alias John Stuart (ca. 1757 – after 1791), was born in present-day Ghana, enslaved at the age of 13, and later gained his freedom in England in 1772. An outspoken abolitionist and anti-imperialist, he published his Thoughts and Sentiments and is widely considered one of the first Black authors in England to publish an extended treatise on the immorality and inhumanity of slavery. It is possible that Cugoano collaborated on the piece with fellow abolitionist, author, and ex-slave Olaudah Equiano. Cugoano was also an active member of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group and arguably “Britain’s first black political organization.”
“Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?” These two images are reproductions of 18th-century anti-slavery medallions. They were later used in official documents and correspondence of the British Anti-Slavery Society (established in the early 19th century). The Society, which also held the less-radical title Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, funded the publication of the first slave narrative by a Black woman, The History of Mary Prince.
Mastery Check
Which monarch made official Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic trade in human beings?
About how many Africans were trafficked by Britain in the last quarter of the eighteenth century?
What was the Brookes?
Who was Ottobah Cugoano?
This group may have been Britain’s first black political organization.
