London and the transatlantic slave trade

Introduction

The Elizabethan slave trade

17th-century expansion

18th-century peak

The horror of the slave trade

The rights of Africans in Britain

The abolition campaigns

Final balance sheet

	Send this story to a friend
	Printer-friendly version
	View this story in pictures

Introduction

Slave in chains. © NMM

London played a central role in Britain's involvement in the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. Because London was Britain’s major port, ships owned by London merchants dominated the trade during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Later, London's position was challenged by Bristol and then Liverpool.

The City of London provided the money for many slaving voyages and other London institutions insured cargoes and traded plantation goods.

London also became the focus of the long abolition campaign. This eventually outlawed the British slave trade and slavery within the British Empire.

Page 1 of 8.

Next page