Historical Documents
The British transatlantic slave trade was sustained by a web of laws, financial systems, and political debates. These documents—ranging from charters and parliamentary acts to firsthand testimonies—illustrate how deeply slavery was embedded in Britain’s imperial and economic structure.
Royal African Company Charter (1663)
Granted by King Charles II, this charter gave the Royal African Company exclusive rights to trade in West Africa, including gold and enslaved Africans. It institutionalized Britain’s participation in the slave trade and tied it directly to the Crown and powerful investors.
“Description of a Slave Ship” (1789)
Originally printed by James Phillips for the London Committee of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, this famous diagram showed the horrific overcrowding on slave ships. It became one of the most influential visual tools of the abolition movement, widely circulated across Britain.
The Zong Massacre Legal Case (Gregson v. Gilbert, 1783)
Court records reveal the tragic massacre of over 130 enslaved Africans who were thrown overboard and treated as an insurance dispute rather than murder victims. The case epitomized the dehumanization of enslaved people under British law and helped galvanize abolitionist activism, serving as a turning point in the fight to end slavery.
See picture of a court document from the legal case on the right (?).
