Slave Trade 1706 -1850

A Brief Overview of Slavery in British History

The british bacame envolved in the slave trade other wise known as the nefarious trade in 1573 and was begun by sir John Hawkins, he was supported by Elizabeth 1, who also made an investment in the trade.  Britian soon over took the other european countries who were participating in trading the enslaved and witheld this position until 1807.  Britain shipped African women men and children to all of its European colonies in the Americas.
A pregnant woman would fetch twice the price as she would normally.

Bristol and Liverpool

Bristol was the first city to prosper due to the trade this was then followed by liverpool. London also traded slaves as did a few other small British ports. Boats were specially built the majority were constrcuted in Liverpool.

The ships sailed from england with guns and ammunition, rum, metal goods and cloth, sailed to the west coast of africa - exchnged goods with local chiefs for prisnors sailed to west indies.

"At least 2 million Africans--10 to 15 percent--died during the infamous "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic. Another 15 to 30 percent died during the march to or confinement along the coast. Altogether, for every 100 slaves who reached the New World, another 40 had died in Africa or during the Middle Passage."

An estimate for the 1840s is 25 percent.

Those who survived the trip were often branded and oiled to make them look healthy.
Mine and Plantation owners often brought the slaves.

The average price that a slave of any age, sex, or condition