Two hundred years ago, on 25 March 1807, the Slave Trade Act was passed and the kidnapping, trafficking and sale of black Africans as slaves became illegal throughout the British Empire. The Slave Trade Act was the result of a long campaign fought against bitter resistance, to bring to an end four hundred years of profit for a few and hell for many. To Western historians, it was known as the triangular trade, or Atlantic trade. To Africans it has become known as Maafa, the Kiswahili word for ‘holocaust’ or ‘great disaster’. To those who profited from dealing in human flesh, it was known simply as ‘the Trade’.
At its height, the Trade was a highly organised international commercial venture that had the potential to generate vast profit. There were risks, but at its peak, the trade made Bristol the second most important port in the country and its subsequent wealth was derived from the proceeds of the Atlantic slave trade. Bristol’s lucrative sugar and tobacco industries were fuelled by the Trade, making an already wealthy city even wealthier. Many of the great and good of Bristol were involved, and money from this enterprise paid for the University, many of the great Clifton buildings and Bristol’s almshouses and schools. The story of Bristol’s involvement in the Trade provides an original insight into the way port cities around Britain profited from the Maafa and the city’s role is explored within the context of the global origins of the Trade, as well as its subsequent demise.
Victoria Coules was educated at Plymouth Polytechnic (BSc in Communications Engineering), Bristol University (Postgraduate Certificate of Education) and Bristol School of Art (Diploma in Foundation Studies Art and Design and HNC in Fine Art). She has worked as an engineer and a teacher and is now a freelance writer and producer. She is also the author of Lost Bristol (Birlinn 2006), a look at Bristol’s hidden history and stories.
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