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00:12A CIDADE NO BRASIL
00:34They were home to families who were making their fortunes in the city's boon years.
00:43We know he was living in these houses in 1732 because of the land tax records.
00:49They tell us that this house, number 37, was home to a Matthew Thomas.
00:55He lived there with his wife Elizabeth and their children.
00:58His neighbour here was Widow Raxall, Anne Raxall.
01:04She had just lost her husband, Nathaniel, who died young, aged just 44.
01:10And next to them, at number 35, was a Richard Farr, Jr.
01:15There is now a new place where we can find these same names.
01:22And it is here, the Register of British Slave Traders.
01:33What this tells us is that Matthew Thomas was an investor in two slave trading expeditions that left the port
01:42of Bristol.
01:43Here is the entry for Nathaniel Raxall.
01:47He put his money into four slave trading expeditions.
01:51And Richard Farr was an investor in 20 slave trading voyages that, between them, carried more than 6,000 men,
02:01women and children into slavery.
02:05But it's not just these three houses, and it is not just these three families.
02:12More than half of all the householders listed as living here in 1732 also appear on this Register of Slave
02:22Traders.
02:27The Register is the culmination of one of the biggest and most ambitious studies ever undertaken into Britain's role in
02:35the slave trade.
02:43For five years, a group of historians have searched through thousands of documents in archives across the country and in
02:50the Caribbean,
02:51piecing together a comprehensive picture of who the slave traders were.
02:56And for this series, we've been given exclusive access to their findings.
03:02We began the project with the very clear ambition to do the most comprehensive assessment of all of the British
03:10-based investors in the transatlantic slave trade.
03:12That list now is somewhere around 13,000 people.
03:15We're not talking about a trade that's peripheral, but rather one that's connected to all of the different parts of
03:21the country that involves a huge amount of national wealth and a huge amount of very powerful people.
03:26I was shocked to find this web of connections stretching across the north of Britain that really brings to light
03:32a more endemic feature of slavery.
03:3413,000 individual lives were changed by participation.
03:38With the profit side of the slave trade, three million more were fundamentally altered by the desire for profit.
03:46Anyone can now log on and discover who the slave traders were, where they lived, how much money they made,
03:54and the links between modern British companies and institutions and the trade in human beings.
04:02What emerges is a new picture of a trade that was spread further across the country than we might have
04:08imagined, not just in the slave-trading ports like Bristol and Liverpool.
04:16It's also a story that stretches far back into the British past.
04:22Because to find a start date for this history, we need to travel back four and a half centuries.
04:48In the British library is a remarkable relic from the first years of the English slave trade.
04:57The date, here at the top of the page, is 1563, five years into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
05:10Now, this is a document that is really, really hard to read.
05:15But what it is, as it tells us, is a list of names, the names of the adventurers.
05:21These are the men who, at this moment, are putting their money into a new expedition
05:28that they hope will generate them significant profits.
05:32And some of these names were very well known in the 1560s.
05:37Among them is William Cecil Knight.
05:42This is William Cecil.
05:45He was Queen Elizabeth's principal advisor, arguably the most influential, the most powerful figure in the whole country after the
05:54Queen.
05:56At the top of the list is the Earl of Pembroke.
06:00Here he is in his armour with his coat of arms.
06:04He was a Tudor courtier.
06:06He was a member of the Queen's Privy Council, her cabinet, and he'd been involved in the Tudor court since
06:12the days of Henry VIII.
06:15Below this list of courtiers is another list of names.
06:20And these are the London merchants.
06:22These are the money men.
06:24So we have a William Garrett.
06:28Here he is.
06:29He was a significant London merchant and a former Lord Mayor of London.
06:34Just beneath him is another London merchant, William Chester.
06:39He was also an MP and he had significant links to the court and to Elizabeth.
06:46Now, the Queen's name does not appear in either of these lists.
06:51But she was involved in this expedition.
06:54And that's because she was loaning the expedition one of her ships.
06:59And it's named here the Jesus of Lubeck.
07:03Here is a picture of the Jesus of Lubeck.
07:07And it was a giant 700-ton warship.
07:12It had been bought for the Tudor navy by Henry VIII.
07:15And it had been used in an attempt to salvage, to raise from the seabed, another of Henry's ships, the
07:22Mary Rose.
07:23But in 1564, the Jesus of Lubeck was off on this expedition, financed by these men.
07:44The Queen, William Cecil, and the London merchants were willing to support this expedition
07:50because it was led by an English adventurer who just two years earlier had returned from the New World
07:56with an astonishing haul of wealth and treasure.
08:09A portrait of that adventurer is on display here at the National Maritime Museum.
08:18This is the face of John Hawkins.
08:25John Hawkins was many things.
08:28He was a merchant.
08:29He was a brilliant naval commander.
08:31He was a privateer, a state-sanctioned pirate.
08:34But in 1562, he had become something else, England's first slave trader.
08:42Because that year, he'd sailed to the coast of West Africa.
08:46There, he attacked local settlements and Portuguese slave ships.
08:51He captured 300 Africans and then sailed across the Atlantic
08:56and sold those captives to Spanish plantation owners in the Caribbean.
09:01What he'd demonstrated was that the English could break in to the Atlantic slave trade,
09:08a trade pioneered and dominated by the Portuguese and the Spanish.
09:18The new expedition that William Cecil and the London merchants had backed
09:23was to be the second slave trading expedition of John Hawkins.
09:29And the document that lists the names of the investors contains another list,
09:35the victual list, the supplies, to be loaded onto the ships
09:39that were then to set sail for the coast of Africa.
09:43And that list contains some telling details.
09:47Among the supplies were shoes for 500 Negroes
09:53and meat for the Negroes.
09:58The clear purpose and intent of this second expedition
10:03was, like the first, to capture human beings
10:06and carry them across the ocean.
10:20In the last weeks of 1564,
10:23the ships, led by John Hawkins,
10:25would have passed by this coastline here in West Africa.
10:33In the 16th century,
10:35ships tried whenever they could to stay within sight of land,
10:38which means that if I'd been standing here back then,
10:42I would have been able to look out and see them
10:44as little dots on that horizon.
10:47They headed south and then they turned east.
10:49They were tracing the outline of the African continents.
10:53But, of course, the English hadn't pioneered.
10:56They hadn't invented this trade.
10:57They were just bit players and they were late comers.
11:00But these first early Tudor expeditions,
11:04they were the beginnings of an English and then a British slave trade
11:09that was not to come to an end for another 243 years.
11:14not until 1807, when the British ended the trade
11:17and the last British ships left this coast.
11:30Hawkins headed for the Sierra Leone River,
11:33the target of his earlier expedition.
11:36And there he captured hundreds of Africans
11:40by raiding Portuguese slave traders.
11:43And he and his men also carried out raids on African villages
11:47to capture others.
11:53Crossing the Atlantic,
11:55he sold the captives to plantation owners
11:58in the Spanish colonies of South America.
12:02And from there, for the second time,
12:05Hawkins sailed home to England.
12:11The profits from the expedition
12:13shared between Hawkins, the London merchants,
12:16and the Queen were astonishing.
12:20By one estimate, they made a profit of 60%.
12:29One of the sources that allows historians
12:32to calculate those profits are letters
12:35written in London by the Spanish ambassador,
12:38Diego Guzman de Silva.
12:41Letters that he dispatched to his master in Madrid,
12:45King Philip II.
12:47De Silva informed the Spanish king
12:49that Hawkins had arrived back in London
12:52with 50,000 gold coins,
12:55gold that today would be worth 20 million pounds.
13:00And this information was of interest to King Philip
13:04because in the 1560s,
13:06English slave traders had no business
13:08trading in the Spanish Empire in the New World.
13:13How the world had been carved up
13:16and the English excluded
13:18can be seen in one of the great treasures
13:20held by the British Library,
13:22an atlas from the time.
13:27This atlas has a really remarkable backstory.
13:31It really does.
13:32It's known as the Queen Mary Atlas.
13:34So it's Mary Tudor who marries
13:37King Philip II of Spain in 1554.
13:40And this atlas was a wedding gift for Philip.
13:43It's an amazing object about a moment
13:46that England nearly becomes part of the Spanish Empire.
13:50And we can see this by looking at this map here,
13:53which is the spread of Western Europe.
13:55This is the British Isles.
13:56This is the British Isles.
13:57And what's interesting is this coat of arms.
13:59You have England on the right,
14:01but look on the left.
14:02That should be Spain.
14:04It's been defaced.
14:05We think it could actually be Elizabeth I
14:08who inherits this atlas.
14:10And she is now running a Protestant country.
14:13And she says,
14:14this is not the image I want.
14:16Let's just scratch that out.
14:18I love the idea of the Virgin Queen,
14:21of Gloriana,
14:21with all of that dignity from those portraits,
14:24scratching out the Spanish flag.
14:26Getting really angry.
14:28This page shows South America
14:30and up here, the Caribbean.
14:33Don't forget,
14:34this is representing the world
14:36as Philip II wants to see it.
14:38So you can see Cortes and the conquistadors
14:40taking this area
14:41with the Spanish flags up here,
14:43moving up into the Caribbean.
14:47The atlas also shows Africa.
14:49Let's look at that page.
14:51What you've got here
14:52is the shape of West Africa
14:53running down into sub-Saharan Africa
14:56and the Cape of Good Hope.
14:57And then on the left-hand side,
14:59here in the west,
15:00you can see South America.
15:02So in 1494,
15:03the globe has kind of been carved up
15:05between Spain and Portugal.
15:06The Treaty of Tordesillas
15:07draws a line down the Atlantic
15:09and says everything to the west Spanish,
15:11everything to the east Portuguese.
15:12So all these Portuguese flags
15:14all the way down.
15:15So when Hawkins is off the coast of Africa
15:18capturing enslaved Africans,
15:20he is breaking into
15:21a Portuguese zone of influence.
15:23And when he sells them in the New World,
15:25he's breaking into the Spanish Empire.
15:27Hawkins is an absolute chancer.
15:29He is really playing hit and run
15:31with the Spanish and the Portuguese.
15:33But Hawkins has already demonstrated
15:35that the profits of the slave trade
15:38are so enormous
15:39that Elizabeth is willing
15:41to throw the dice on this.
15:43England is a tiny, tiny bit player
15:46at this point,
15:47trying to break in
15:48to a global empire
15:51of the world
15:52which is predominantly shaped
15:54by what Spain
15:55and the Portuguese empires are doing.
15:57So any way in which
15:58you can enrich your crown,
16:00if you have to do that quietly
16:02by supporting people like Hawkins
16:03and saying,
16:04if it goes wrong,
16:05I claim no connection to it.
16:07But if it goes well,
16:08I'll take the money.
16:09Thank you very much.
16:10That's part of the gamble.
16:11It's part of keeping
16:13this tiny little Protestant state going.
16:15So yes, you'd invest in slaves.
16:17Yes, you'd invest in this kind of
16:19very, very dangerous political game.
16:22But there's no sense of a morality here.
16:24That's what's so awful about this.
16:27You look at something
16:27as beautiful as this atlas.
16:29But what underlies this
16:31is something really very dark,
16:33very sinister
16:34about the movement of people
16:36and the enslavement of people
16:37across this space.
16:45Having generated
16:46such vast profits
16:48for the most powerful people
16:49in the land,
16:50it was perhaps inevitable
16:52that in 1567,
16:54Hawkins would set sail again
16:56on a third expedition.
17:00Again with the royal warship,
17:03the Jesus of Lubeck,
17:04among the six ships
17:06in his fleet.
17:10A critical document
17:11that tells us
17:12what happened
17:13to that expedition
17:14has survived.
17:18This is not a list of investors
17:20and it is not a list of profits.
17:23It is a letter
17:24that's held here
17:25at the National Archives.
17:26It is signed,
17:28John Hawkins,
17:29and it is dated
17:30the 25th day
17:32of January,
17:341568.
17:36Hawkins was writing
17:38to William Cecil,
17:39Queen Elizabeth's
17:40great counsellor.
17:42And what he's describing
17:43to Cecil
17:44is a disaster.
17:45He explains
17:46that of the six ships
17:48that he'd left England with,
17:50he had arrived
17:51in Cornwall
17:52at a place called
17:53Mounts Bay
17:54only with the Minion
17:57left of all our fleet.
17:59Among the English ships
18:00lost was the Jesus of Lubeck,
18:02Queen Elizabeth's own ship.
18:05And Hawkins goes on
18:06to explain the nature
18:08of this disaster.
18:10If I should write
18:11of all our calamities,
18:13I am sure
18:14a volume as great
18:15as the Bible
18:16would scarcely suffice.
18:19He goes on to explain
18:20that the voyage
18:21had been successful.
18:22They had reached
18:23the coast of West Africa.
18:25There,
18:26they had captured
18:26hundreds of Africans
18:28by working alongside
18:29a local African leader.
18:31They then crossed
18:32the Atlantic
18:33and sold hundreds
18:34of those captives
18:35to Spanish plantation owners
18:37in the New World.
18:39But a great part
18:40of our treasure,
18:42merchandise,
18:43shipping,
18:43and men
18:44were devoured
18:45by the treason
18:47of the Spaniards.
18:48The English ships
18:50had been in a harbour
18:51in Mexico
18:52when a Spanish fleet
18:53had arrived.
18:55At first,
18:55they'd agreed a truce,
18:57but the Spanish
18:57had reneged
18:58on that deal
18:59and they'd attacked
19:00the English ships.
19:02What followed
19:02was,
19:03as Hawkins says here,
19:05a calamity.
19:13The database built
19:15by the researchers
19:16tells us
19:16what happened next
19:18after the disaster
19:20of the third
19:21Hawkins expedition.
19:23The database
19:25lists the expeditions
19:26of John Hawkins
19:27and it lists
19:28all of the ships
19:29he used,
19:30but what follows
19:31is not another list
19:33of further,
19:34later,
19:34Tudor slave trading
19:36expeditions
19:36because there are none
19:38for the rest
19:38of the 16th century.
19:40There are none
19:40during the rest
19:41of the reign
19:42of Queen Elizabeth I
19:43because after
19:45the disaster
19:46of the final
19:47Hawkins expedition,
19:49the English slave trade
19:50came to a halt.
19:53But through
19:54the decades
19:55that followed,
19:56the trade
19:57in enslaved Africans
19:58to the European colonies
20:00of the Caribbean
20:01and the Americas
20:02continued
20:03without the English.
20:05Historians have identified
20:071,679 voyagers
20:10dispatched
20:11to the coast of Africa
20:13during those decades
20:14by the European rivals
20:16of England.
20:18Between them,
20:20those expeditions
20:21transported
20:22around half a million
20:24people
20:24to lives of slavery.
20:27But around
20:29100,000 Africans
20:30never reached
20:31their destinations.
20:33They died
20:34in the infamous
20:35Middle Passage.
20:45The English,
20:46although excluded
20:47from the slave trade,
20:49remained,
20:49like other Europeans,
20:51fascinated
20:52by Africa,
20:53a continent believed
20:54to possess
20:55extraordinary wealth,
20:57a place
20:57with which Europeans
20:59might trade
21:00for gold
21:01and ivory.
21:08It was in the hope
21:09of winning access
21:10to those trades
21:11that in 1618,
21:13Queen Elizabeth's successor,
21:15James I,
21:16the new Stuart King
21:17of England,
21:18established
21:19a trading company,
21:20the Company
21:21of adventurers
21:22of London
21:23trading
21:23to the ports
21:24of Africa.
21:28And the focus
21:29of the new company's
21:30attention
21:31was one of Africa's
21:32many rivers,
21:33the Gambia River
21:35in the far west
21:36of the continent.
21:39And a series
21:41of small,
21:42modest,
21:43English expeditions
21:44were sent here.
21:46One arrived
21:46in the year
21:471620.
21:52On board
21:53that expedition
21:53was a man
21:54called Richard Jobson,
21:55and his role
21:56was to discover
21:57the fate
21:58of an earlier
21:59expedition,
22:00to explore
22:01the river,
22:01and if he could,
22:02to trade
22:03with the local
22:04African people,
22:05exchanging goods
22:06brought from England,
22:07ideally for gold.
22:09And when he returned
22:10home to England,
22:11Jobson wrote
22:12a book,
22:12an account
22:13of his time
22:14on this river.
22:15It is called
22:16the golden trade,
22:18or a discovery
22:19of the river Gambra
22:20and the golden trade
22:21of the Ethiopians.
22:23Ethiopians
22:24was just a general term
22:25for all Africans
22:27back in the 17th century.
22:29Now, in this book,
22:30Jobson describes
22:31the potential
22:32of the gold trade
22:33on this river,
22:34but he also describes
22:35being a witness
22:36to another trade
22:37that was being conducted
22:38right here,
22:39the trade in slaves,
22:42a trade between
22:42local African traders
22:44and other European merchants.
22:46in the book,
22:48he describes
22:49feeling the presence
22:51of the slave trade
22:52almost immediately
22:53upon entering
22:54this river.
22:55He writes
22:56that the people
22:57who are inhabiting
22:58or dwelling
22:59in the mouth
23:00of the river,
23:01or within certain leagues
23:03of the first entrance,
23:04so very close
23:05to where I am now,
23:07that those people
23:08were very fearful
23:09to speak with any shipping.
23:11and this was because
23:12they have been
23:14many times
23:15by several nations
23:16surprised,
23:18taken,
23:18and carried away,
23:20carried away
23:21into slavery.
23:22There's a passage
23:24later in the book
23:25where Jobson
23:26describes
23:27his encounter
23:28with the local
23:29African slave trader,
23:30Buko Sano,
23:31and he writes
23:32about a moment
23:33when Sano
23:34showed unto me
23:36certain young
23:37black women
23:38who were standing
23:39by themselves,
23:41which he told me
23:42were slaves
23:43brought for me
23:45to buy.
23:46And Jobson's
23:48response
23:48to that offer
23:49is really interesting.
23:51This is what he writes.
23:53We were a people
23:54who did not deal
23:55in any such commodities.
23:58Neither did we buy
23:59or sell
24:00one another,
24:01or any
24:02that had
24:03our own shapes.
24:04Sano responds
24:06by saying
24:06that slaves
24:07were the only
24:08merchandise
24:08they carried
24:09down into the country
24:10and that they
24:11were sold there
24:12to white men
24:13who earnestly
24:15desired them.
24:16And Jobson
24:17says that those
24:18other white men
24:19were another
24:20kind of people
24:21different from us,
24:24different
24:24from the English.
24:27We don't know
24:29how representative
24:30the views
24:31of Richard Jobson
24:32were in the
24:33England
24:33of the 1620s,
24:35in the reign
24:36of King James I,
24:38half a century
24:39after the last
24:40of the Tudor
24:41slave trading expeditions.
24:43Was Jobson
24:45speaking for himself,
24:46or was he
24:47describing attitudes
24:48that were widespread?
24:51And what did
24:51the English think
24:53of the wealth
24:54being generated
24:55by the trade
24:56and by slavery
24:57in the empires
24:58of Spain
24:59and Portugal?
25:01What we do know
25:02is that even
25:03while Jobson
25:04was rejecting
25:05the advances
25:06of an African
25:07slave trader
25:08on the Gambia River,
25:10what was happening
25:10in the Caribbean
25:12was about
25:13to draw the English
25:14back into the trade
25:16in human beings.
25:19It was in the 1620s
25:21that England
25:22took control
25:23of new colonies
25:24in the Caribbean,
25:25the islands
25:26of St Kitts,
25:27Nevis,
25:28and most importantly,
25:30Barbados.
25:31And it was on Barbados
25:33that an economic revolution
25:34began
25:35when the island
25:36was turned over
25:37to sugar cultivation,
25:39sparking a boom.
25:41By the 1640s,
25:43the demand for labour
25:44to work the sugarcane fields
25:46was so urgent
25:47that there was a slow
25:49and tentative
25:50revival
25:51of the English slave trade.
25:55That revival
25:57can be seen
25:57in the data
25:58gathered by the historians
26:00who have built
26:00the new register
26:02of British slave traders.
26:04The names
26:05of English ships
26:06along with the names
26:07of their investors
26:08appear on the database
26:10for the first time
26:11since the calamity
26:12of the last expedition
26:14of John Hawkins.
26:16The Voyage of the Star
26:17in 1640-41
26:18is the first voyage
26:19that we know of
26:20which is organised
26:20directly in England
26:21and almost 300 captives
26:24are trafficked.
26:25One individual
26:26in particular,
26:26John Wood,
26:27stands out
26:28as a prominent investor here
26:29and he appears
26:30in the London Port Books
26:31in 1640.
26:33He's assembling
26:34trade goods
26:35such as linen,
26:36iron,
26:37Sheffield knives.
26:38He's dispatching
26:39this venture
26:40to West Africa
26:41to trade for captives.
26:42The intensification
26:43of the English slave trade
26:45in the 1640s
26:46really happens
26:46in the middle
26:47of that decade.
26:48There are 11 voyages
26:49for 1644
26:51and 12 for 1645
26:52and at that moment
26:54in time
26:54the English Civil War
26:55is raging.
26:56A traumatic moment
26:57in the history
26:58of the nation.
26:59I mean it would seem
27:00more natural
27:01that a trade
27:02would kind of collapse
27:03during, you know,
27:04with such a kind of rupture.
27:06I think it's surprising
27:07that the trade
27:08continues during
27:09the Civil War.
27:09Yes, you know,
27:10if there was a moment
27:11for people to step away
27:12from a risky
27:13experimental business
27:15it was during a moment
27:16of domestic catastrophe.
27:18But actually
27:18what we find here
27:19is the importance
27:20of prioritising
27:21the expansion
27:22of the violent
27:24transportation
27:24of enslaved
27:25African people.
27:27The defeat
27:28of the Royalists,
27:29the execution
27:30of King Charles I
27:31and the emergence
27:32of a new
27:33English Republic
27:34led by Oliver Cromwell
27:36was not the end
27:37of the conflict.
27:41The heirs
27:42to the Stuart throne
27:43the two brothers
27:45Prince Charles
27:46and Prince James
27:47fled into exile.
27:54But the Royalist struggle
27:56against Cromwell
27:57continued at sea
27:59with the formation
28:00of a Royalist Navy.
28:02a force that was led
28:04by a man
28:05who was to play
28:05an unexpected role
28:07in the next stage
28:08of the English slave trade.
28:13His portrait
28:14is on display
28:15in the Queen's House
28:16in Greenwich.
28:20This is Prince Rupert
28:22the first Duke of Cumberland
28:24and Count Palatine
28:25of the Rhine.
28:26but he was also
28:27the nephew
28:28of the executed king
28:30Charles I
28:31and he was
28:32the cousin
28:33of two future kings
28:34Charles II
28:35and James II.
28:37And Rupert
28:38was just about
28:39the most feared
28:40and the most infamous
28:41military commander
28:42from the age
28:44of the Civil Wars.
28:45And it was
28:46under Rupert
28:47that the Royalist Navy
28:48set out
28:49to attack
28:50the ships
28:50of Oliver Cromwell's
28:51England
28:52in the Caribbean
28:53and across
28:54the Atlantic.
28:55and in 1652
28:57Rupert
28:58took his
28:59Royalist fleet
28:59up a river
29:01on the west coast
29:02of Africa.
29:11The river
29:12Rupert arrived in
29:14was the same river
29:15that 30 years earlier
29:16Richard Jobson
29:18had sailed up
29:19and been shocked
29:20to be offered
29:21Africans
29:22being sold
29:23as slaves.
29:26and three decades
29:28later
29:28the trades
29:29in slaves
29:30and in African gold
29:32were still being
29:33conducted
29:34on these waterways.
29:43Prince Rupert
29:44sailed his ships
29:45far up river
29:47and he saw
29:48just how deep
29:49into the continent
29:50this river
29:51extends.
29:52He may well
29:53have heard
29:54the stories
29:55the legends
29:55that somewhere
29:56at the end
29:57of this river
29:57lay ancient
29:58gold mines.
30:00And he may well
30:01have seen
30:01how the trade
30:02in gold
30:03but also
30:03the trade
30:04in slaves
30:05operated
30:06on this river
30:07the partnerships
30:08between European
30:09merchants
30:09and African traders.
30:12And so
30:12Prince Rupert
30:14the cousin
30:14to two
30:15future English kings
30:17had seen
30:17with his own eyes
30:19the economic potential
30:20of this part
30:21of the African continent.
30:26eight years
30:27after Prince Rupert
30:29had sailed up
30:29the Gambia River
30:30his fortunes
30:32and those
30:33of the House
30:33of Stuart
30:34were transformed.
30:44In 1660
30:45Charles Stuart
30:46along with his brother
30:47James the Duke of York
30:49left their comfortable
30:50exile in France
30:51and returned
30:52to England
30:53where Charles
30:54became King Charles
30:56II.
30:57The following year
30:59he was crowned
31:00in a lavish ceremony
31:01here at Westminster Abbey.
31:08The coronation
31:10of 1661
31:12of course
31:12followed
31:13the traditions
31:14of the past
31:15but many
31:16of the objects
31:17at the centre
31:18of this ancient ceremony
31:20were newly created
31:22and that was because
31:23back in 1649
31:25the crown jewels
31:26of England
31:27had been melted down
31:29on the orders
31:30of Oliver Cromwell.
31:31So new jewels
31:33including a new crown
31:34had been commissioned
31:35at enormous expense.
31:39Those crown jewels
31:41created for the coronation
31:43of Charles II
31:43have in the centuries
31:45that followed
31:46been used repeatedly
31:48in the coronations
31:49of British kings
31:50and queens.
31:52The ceremony
31:54that took place
31:55right here
31:56was a masterpiece
31:57of political theatre.
31:59It used expense
32:01and pageantry
32:02and glamour
32:03to paper over
32:04the cracks
32:05of a nation
32:06still deeply scarred
32:08by the wounds
32:09of the Civil War
32:10and the Republican era
32:11under Cromwell.
32:13It also helped
32:14to camouflage
32:15the fact
32:16that the English state
32:17was deeply in debt.
32:20And yet
32:21despite all
32:22of the spectacle
32:23and the pageantry
32:24despite the unquestioned
32:26enthusiasm
32:27for the new regime
32:28the Stuart monarchy
32:30was in need
32:31of new projects
32:32new trades
32:33and new institutions
32:35that would help it
32:36to rebuild
32:37its own fortunes
32:38to firmly
32:39re-establish
32:40the institution
32:41of monarchy
32:42and to help it
32:44expand
32:44the economy
32:45of England.
32:56William Pettigrew
32:57who has led
32:58the new research project
33:00has searched
33:01through the archives
33:02to uncover
33:03where the restored
33:04monarchs of England
33:05invested their wealth
33:07and directed
33:08their attentions.
33:10They were seeking
33:11to offer reassurance
33:12to a divided nation
33:14which the Republican period
33:15had singularly
33:17failed to do.
33:18So they're looking
33:18for various different
33:19new directions
33:20they can take the country
33:21to bring people together.
33:23And what sort of
33:24trades,
33:25what sort of institutions
33:26do they invest in?
33:28One of them
33:29is the
33:29royal fisheries.
33:31They're also interested
33:32in developing
33:33a state-sponsored
33:35management
33:35management
33:36of what was
33:37understood at the time
33:38to be a cutting-edge
33:39new trade
33:41the trade
33:41in enslaved African people.
33:43So this trade
33:44that had developed
33:45from the 1640s
33:46privately
33:47the states,
33:48the monarchy
33:49now want to take
33:50control of it.
33:51That's right.
33:51By the time
33:52you get to 1663
33:53they charter
33:54a joint stock
33:56monopoly company
33:57as the company
33:58of Royal Adventure
33:58is trading
33:59into Africa
34:00because at that point
34:01the city of London
34:02becomes very involved.
34:03How long is the charter
34:05given to this company?
34:06The monopoly
34:07described by the charter
34:08is meant to last
34:09for a thousand years.
34:11A thousand years?
34:12Yeah.
34:12And the monopoly is key
34:13because the monopoly
34:14says that
34:14if you're going to
34:15risk your capital
34:16put your money
34:17into this venture
34:18you're the only company
34:20allowed to embark
34:21in this trade
34:22so you won't face competition
34:23so it kind of
34:24skews the risk
34:25it makes it a better investment.
34:26Exactly.
34:27The monopoly
34:28is kind of meaningless
34:29without the means
34:30to enforce it.
34:32So the apparatus
34:33of the states
34:33the law
34:34but also
34:35the Royal Navy
34:36which is developing
34:37around this time
34:37that can be deployed
34:39in defence
34:40of this one company's right
34:41to engage
34:42in the slave trade.
34:43Yeah.
34:44So in that sense
34:44it's a project
34:45that receives
34:45sort of unrivaled
34:47state backing
34:48it's clear evidence
34:49of the extent
34:51of the steward's
34:52determination
34:53to lead this business
34:54this traffic
34:55in particular.
34:57What knowledge
34:58or experience
34:59of the trade
35:00with Africa
35:00is there
35:01within this elite
35:02around the court
35:02and the royal family?
35:03Not much.
35:04There is one exception
35:06to that though.
35:07Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
35:09This is somebody
35:10who'd actually
35:11had direct experience
35:12of being in West Africa.
35:14That was pretty unusual
35:15for members
35:17of the royal families
35:18of Europe.
35:18This was his trip
35:19up the Gambia River
35:20which was just
35:21a few years early.
35:22That's right.
35:22Where he saw
35:23and was excited
35:24by not only
35:26the possibility
35:26of gold mining
35:27but also
35:28he's observing
35:29the slave trade.
35:31He's among
35:32the initial list
35:33of investors
35:34so it's pretty clear
35:36that Rupert
35:37is a prime mover
35:38in the whole organisation
35:39if not
35:40the inspiration for it.
35:43So King Charles II
35:45and the institution
35:46of monarchy
35:47around him
35:47they see this trade
35:49as modern
35:50as the future.
35:51It's clearly
35:53meant to be
35:53a forward-looking
35:56collaboration
35:57between factions
35:59within the
36:00political nation
36:00who had been
36:01killing each other
36:02only years before.
36:04It becomes
36:05a kind of
36:06a vehicle
36:07for reconciliation.
36:08So the slave trade
36:09becomes a place
36:10where the wounds
36:11of the past
36:11could be healed?
36:12That looks
36:13like an important
36:15part of the agenda
36:15here.
36:23The company
36:24of royal adventurers
36:25trading into Africa
36:27with the wealth
36:28and the power
36:28of the monarch
36:29the court
36:30and the London
36:31merchants behind it
36:32doubled
36:33the number
36:34of English ships
36:35carrying enslaved
36:36people to the
36:37plantations
36:38of the growing
36:39English empire
36:41in the Caribbean.
36:43And the monopoly
36:44ensured
36:45that it was
36:46the only company
36:47permitted
36:48to engage
36:49in the trades
36:49in African gold.
36:51and African
36:52humanity.
37:00Although the monopoly
37:02had been granted
37:03in the name
37:03of King Charles II
37:04it was his brother
37:06James the Duke of York
37:08the future
37:08King James II
37:10who was most
37:11directly involved
37:12in the operation
37:13of the company.
37:15And company records
37:16reveal just how involved.
37:19These are scans
37:21from the minute book
37:22of the company
37:23of royal adventurers
37:24trading to Africa.
37:25This is the official record
37:27of company meetings
37:29and it tells us
37:30all the decisions
37:31that were made
37:32at each meeting
37:33and it tells us
37:34who was in attendance.
37:36So these are members
37:37of the company's court
37:39the committee
37:39or the board
37:40that runs the company
37:41and at the top
37:42it tells us
37:43that the governor
37:44was also
37:45in attendance
37:46and that the name
37:47of the governor
37:48was the Duke
37:49of York.
37:50This meeting
37:51is held
37:52on the 19th
37:54of August
37:551664.
37:56The next meeting
37:57was held
37:58on the 26th
37:59of August
38:00and again
38:00the governor
38:01James the Duke
38:02of York
38:03was also
38:04in attendance.
38:05There's a meeting
38:06also here
38:07on the 12th
38:08of September
38:09and in that meeting
38:10James has himself
38:11written into
38:13the minute book
38:13he writes
38:14I will add
38:15to my stock
38:16£2,000
38:18and he signs
38:19James.
38:20So he is increasing
38:21his personal investment
38:23in this company
38:24by £2,000.
38:26So week
38:28after week
38:28meeting
38:29after meeting
38:30James is present.
38:32Sometimes
38:32he's listed
38:33not just as governor
38:34but as
38:35his royal highness
38:37the governor
38:38and we know
38:39that some
38:39of these meetings
38:40were actually
38:40held
38:41in James's
38:42private apartments
38:43in Whitehall Palace
38:45then the London
38:46residence
38:47of the English monarch
38:48and that's because
38:50James's role
38:51in these
38:52monopoly companies
38:53of the 1660s
38:54and into the 1670s
38:56it wasn't ceremonial
38:58he wasn't just
38:58a bigger head
38:59he was personally
39:01financially
39:02invested
39:02in these companies
39:03and he was
39:04at the centre
39:06of decision making.
39:07as they expanded
39:08England's role
39:09in the Atlantic
39:10slave trade.
39:16With its finances
39:17in place
39:18and its shareholders
39:19drawn from the elite
39:21and the London merchants
39:25the company took control
39:28of outposts
39:29on the coast
39:30of West Africa
39:33including here
39:34an island
39:36in the Gambia River
39:40a fortress
39:42that had once
39:43belonged
39:43to the Dutch
39:45all that is left
39:47all that is left
39:47today
39:47are ruins
39:52the very act
39:53of seizing this island
39:55of building defences
39:57of bringing cannon here
39:58of basing agents
39:59and traders
40:00within its walls
40:01all of that spoke
40:03to the commitment
40:03of the company
40:04to the African trade
40:06the trade in gold
40:07and other commodities
40:08but also
40:09the trade
40:10in human beings
40:11and this tiny island
40:14in this huge
40:15African river
40:16it feels
40:16about as far
40:17from England
40:18as you can get
40:19and yet
40:20it was what happened
40:21here
40:22and in other forts
40:23along the coast
40:24of Africa
40:25upon which
40:26the fortunes
40:27of the company
40:28but also
40:28of its wealthy
40:29its aristocratic
40:30and its royal investors
40:32now depended
40:36the company's fort
40:37on the Gambia River
40:38was renamed
40:39Fort James
40:41after James
40:42Duke of York
40:43and from bases
40:44like this
40:45the company
40:45was able
40:46to ensure
40:47that its investors
40:48did well
40:49from the slave trade
40:50by supplying
40:51the plantation owners
40:53on the islands
40:54of the Caribbean
40:54with the slave labor
40:56they demanded
41:03in 1672
41:04the company
41:05was given
41:05a new charter
41:06and a new name
41:07it became
41:08the Royal African Company
41:10of England
41:11still operating
41:12from the same forts
41:13on the African coast
41:15and still
41:16with James
41:17Duke of York
41:18as its governor
41:19and a lead investor
41:27as the company
41:28expanded
41:29it began
41:30to attract
41:30new investors
41:33most of the people
41:35whose names
41:36appear
41:36in the share
41:37transfer books
41:38of the Royal African Company
41:40as the buyers
41:41or the sellers
41:42of company shares
41:43have long
41:44been forgotten
41:47but one of them
41:49in recent years
41:50has been dragged
41:51out
41:51of the historical shadows
41:53and become
41:54infamous
41:55today
41:55in the 21st century
41:57although
41:58his role
41:59in the slave trade
42:00is misunderstood
42:04not that long ago
42:05very few people
42:06outside of Bristol
42:08had ever heard
42:09of this guy
42:09Edward Colston
42:11he is famous today
42:13because of this
42:13Victorian statue
42:15of him
42:15that was toppled
42:16back in 2020
42:18and this is where
42:19it now lies
42:21it's in one of Bristol's
42:22museums
42:22and it is still
42:24covered in graffiti
42:25and there is
42:26red paint
42:27painted onto his hands
42:29to signify
42:30that he has
42:32blood on his hands
42:33but what
42:34many people
42:35didn't get
42:36back in 2020
42:37when this statue
42:38became famous
42:39is that Edward Colston
42:41was not
42:41a Bristol
42:43slave trader
42:44he was
42:45born in Bristol
42:46and he gave
42:46lots of money
42:47to the city
42:48to the city
42:48of Bristol
42:48but Colston
42:49was a London
42:51slave trader
42:51he was
42:53an investor
42:53in and for a while
42:55he was the deputy
42:56governor
42:56of the Royal
42:57African Company
42:58and during
42:59his years
43:00involved in the
43:01company
43:02it transported
43:03around
43:0370,000
43:05men
43:06women
43:06and children
43:07into slavery
43:13Edward Colston
43:15from a wealthy
43:16Bristol family
43:17was one of the
43:18Royal African Company's
43:19major investors
43:21and his name
43:22appears repeatedly
43:23in the company
43:24minute books
43:24recording his
43:25attendance
43:26at company
43:27meetings
43:27but the share
43:29transfer books
43:30of the Royal
43:31African Company
43:32from the 1680s
43:33show that the
43:34possibility
43:35of investing
43:36in the slave trade
43:37had began
43:38to come within
43:39the reach
43:39of people
43:40from outside
43:41the elite
43:42and beyond
43:42the networks
43:43of the London
43:44merchants
43:45Lila O'Leary
43:47Chambers
43:47a member
43:48of the research
43:49team
43:49has trawled
43:50through thousands
43:51of pages
43:52of company
43:53accounts
43:53to discover
43:54who these
43:56new investors
43:56were
43:58these
43:59ledgers
43:59tell us
43:59who was
44:00buying
44:00and selling
44:00shares
44:01in the Royal
44:01African Company
44:02this is from
44:031687
44:04and it's
44:05one of a series
44:06of dozens
44:07of ledgers
44:08each volume
44:09will have
44:09hundreds of
44:10people contained
44:10within it
44:11what sort
44:12of people
44:12are investing
44:13in the Royal
44:13African Company
44:14we're now
44:15expanding
44:16into the city
44:16of London
44:17more generally
44:17and we see
44:19merchants
44:19we see
44:20people that
44:21have memberships
44:22in the guilds
44:22and we see
44:23both men
44:23and women
44:24investing
44:24so are some
44:25of these
44:25people
44:25what we
44:26would today
44:27think of
44:27as sort
44:28of middle
44:28class
44:29certainly
44:29at the
44:30upper portion
44:30of the
44:30middle
44:31class
44:31they may
44:32or may
44:32not own
44:32landed
44:33property
44:34but they
44:35have capital
44:35that they
44:36can use
44:36to invest
44:38so it is
44:39in a way
44:40becoming
44:40more democratized
44:41there is more
44:42people from
44:43lower down
44:44still in the
44:45top
44:45but the kind
44:46of lower
44:47part of the
44:47top of society
44:48who can afford
44:49to invest
44:50in the trade
44:51and who want
44:51to invest
44:51in the trade
44:52yes
44:52and I think
44:53the important
44:53thing to note
44:54about these
44:54shares
44:55is that in
44:55addition to
44:56an economic
44:57value
44:57they also
44:58come with
44:59a bigger say
45:00in the
45:00functioning of
45:01the company
45:01here we see
45:03one investor
45:03named Peter
45:04Paravancini
45:05who was actually
45:06born in Italy
45:07and then came
45:09to England
45:09he described
45:10himself at that
45:11point as a
45:11poor lad
45:12and he used
45:13a combination
45:14of apprenticeship
45:16to a merchant
45:16tailor
45:17and investment
45:18in corporations
45:18like the Royal
45:19African Company
45:20to build himself
45:21in both financial
45:22and political
45:23stature
45:23and by 1683
45:25he was actually
45:26a London
45:26alderman
45:27so you can
45:28see that he's
45:29really enmeshed
45:29himself in the
45:30life of the city
45:30at that point
45:31and here he is
45:32in 1687
45:33and he's
45:34selling
45:35500 pounds
45:37worth of stock
45:38in the Royal
45:39African Company
45:40and 500 pounds
45:41in 1687
45:42is a considerable
45:43amount of money
45:44so this
45:45this has been
45:46part investing
45:47in the company
45:48investing in the
45:48slave trade
45:49it's been part
45:49of a story
45:51for this investor
45:52of social mobility
45:53exactly
45:54yes
45:55and I think
45:55the kind of
45:56fascinating things
45:56about these documents
45:57is that you do
45:58actually see the
45:59signatures
45:59so you can kind
46:00of get a sense
46:01of a little bit
46:02of how they viewed
46:03themselves
46:03and how they wanted
46:04to leave their mark
46:05it's got a dramatic
46:06signature with a big
46:07flourish
46:07it is
46:08yes
46:08yeah
46:09as well as
46:10in this ledger
46:11seeing people
46:12who are from
46:12lower down
46:13the social spectrum
46:14there's also
46:15a lot of
46:16women named
46:17as investors
46:18that's a really
46:19important part
46:19of the story
46:20of the Royal
46:20African Company
46:21corporate structures
46:23allowed women
46:24to get a foot
46:25in the door
46:25in different
46:27types of
46:27financial ventures
46:28the Atlantic
46:29slave trade
46:29being an important
46:30one
46:30and we have
46:31an example
46:32here of
46:32Susanna Phipps
46:34200 pounds
46:35worth
46:36what do we know
46:37about Susanna Phipps
46:38so Susanna Phipps
46:40gets married
46:40three or four times
46:42each time her name
46:43changes
46:43exactly
46:44and so
46:44tracing her
46:45across
46:46those many
46:46iterations
46:47of different
46:47names
46:48is a challenge
46:49in and of
46:49itself
46:50but her
46:51family's story
46:51with the Royal
46:52African Company
46:53moves beyond
46:54investment
46:54her grandson
46:56James Phipps
46:57ends up being
46:57one of the
46:58sort of
46:58chief factors
47:00at Cape Coast
47:00Castle
47:01so he's working
47:02for the company
47:02on the coast
47:03of West Africa
47:04directly
47:04in the slave trade
47:06yes
47:06while he's there
47:07he has a marriage
47:09with a woman
47:10who is of mixed
47:11African and Dutch
47:12descent
47:13named Catherine Phipps
47:14and she is
47:15an active trader
47:16in her own right
47:17even though she's
47:18mixed race
47:18African herself
47:19she is trading
47:20in the slave trade
47:21as well
47:21she is yes
47:22and she's important
47:23for James Phipps
47:24because she has
47:25access to networks
47:26that he doesn't
47:27he has several
47:29children with her
47:29his daughters
47:30are sent back
47:31to England
47:32and Susanna
47:33who we see
47:34investing in the
47:34slave trade
47:35you know
47:35in 1687
47:36ends up partially
47:38caring for
47:39these mixed race
47:41children
47:41so these are two
47:42mixed race girls
47:44being educated
47:45in England
47:45whose mother
47:46was an African
47:47slave trader
47:48and whose grandmother
47:49whose care they're in
47:51is an investor
47:52in the slave trade
47:53this is really
47:54striking when we
47:55think about the role
47:56of women as
47:57financial actors
47:58in the Atlantic
47:59slave trade
48:00but very few
48:01of these investors
48:02would have been
48:02to West Africa
48:03or to the Caribbean
48:04they wouldn't have
48:05seen the trade
48:06in operation
48:07what do they know
48:09about just
48:10the realities
48:11of this trade
48:12I think that
48:13there are certainly
48:14investors that might
48:15know less
48:17than others
48:17but what I would say
48:19is that
48:20more people
48:21than you would think
48:22understand pretty
48:23clearly what's going on
48:24so for example
48:25when a
48:27Royal African
48:28Company ship
48:29launched a
48:30slaving voyage
48:30often the
48:32captain
48:32or the surgeon
48:34would get
48:34a kind of bonus
48:35for how many people
48:36they were able to
48:37actually successfully
48:38keep alive
48:38what was called
48:39either dead money
48:40or head money
48:41and in order to
48:42this is the bonus
48:43paid for each
48:44African brought
48:45to the new world
48:45to the Caribbean
48:46alive
48:47exactly
48:47that could then
48:48be sold
48:49to understand
48:49the concept
48:50of head money
48:51you need to
48:52understand the concept
48:53of what people
48:54call wastage
48:55that 10
48:5615
48:5720%
48:57sometimes
48:58of people
48:58on board
48:59these slave ships
48:59weren't going to
49:00make it
49:01they were going to
49:01die
49:01yes
49:02and it's cold
49:03hard economic
49:04calculation
49:04you're not going
49:05to invest in a
49:06company that you
49:06don't understand
49:07these people
49:08are very
49:10financially literate
49:11for the most part
49:11they are making
49:13strategic choices
49:14about when they
49:14buy and sell shares
49:15and that is informed
49:16by a somewhat
49:17robust knowledge
49:18of the trade
49:19it's informed
49:19by knowledge
49:20of political change
49:21of market price
49:23you know
49:23so they're
49:24compiling a huge
49:25amount of information
49:26often into making
49:27the choice
49:28to invest
49:29in Atlantic slavery
49:37as the Royal
49:39African Company
49:40expanded
49:40it was not just
49:42individuals
49:42who invested
49:43the new research
49:45has catalogued
49:46investments made
49:47by institutions
49:48one of which
49:51was the Royal
49:52Society of London
49:53for improving
49:54natural knowledge
49:56known today
49:57as the Royal Society
49:59the oldest
50:00and one of the
50:01most respected
50:02learned societies
50:04in the world
50:07established in 1660
50:09the same year
50:10as the first
50:11of the Royal Monopoly
50:12slave trading companies
50:13it was one of those
50:14institutions
50:15to which the Stuarts
50:17attached the Royal
50:18Prefects
50:19and to which
50:19they provided
50:20Royal Patronage
50:21and in the archives
50:23the Society's history
50:24is preserved
50:25in meticulous detail
50:28this ledger
50:30contains the minutes
50:31of meetings
50:31of the Council
50:32of the Royal Society
50:34the Society's
50:35governing body
50:36and they discuss
50:37lots of different
50:38things at these meetings
50:40which books to buy
50:41for the Society's
50:42library
50:43which works
50:44by Society members
50:45are worthy
50:46of publication
50:47and how to manage
50:48and how to invest
50:49the Society's money
50:51this meeting
50:53took place
50:54on November 22nd
50:551682
50:57and at the top
50:58it lists
50:59the members
51:00of the Council
51:01who were present
51:02and the first of them
51:03is the President
51:04Sir Christopher Wren
51:06the great architect
51:07and in 1682
51:09he was still working
51:11on the rebuilding
51:12of St Paul's Cathedral
51:13and he'd begun work
51:14on the Royal Chelsea Hospital
51:16the home
51:17for army veterans
51:18also at the meeting
51:20was a Mr Hook
51:22now that is Robert Hook
51:24the great scientist
51:26the great polymath
51:27and as ever
51:28Robert Hook
51:29was working on
51:30lots of different things
51:31at the same time
51:32in November 1682
51:34and among them
51:34was his writings
51:35about comets
51:37because Halley's comet
51:38had just appeared
51:39a few months earlier
51:41in the skies
51:42but at this meeting
51:44in November 1682
51:45the members of the Council
51:47were engaged
51:48in debating
51:49much more mundane
51:50much more
51:51down-to-earth matters
51:53how to invest
51:54the Society's money
51:56and it tells us
51:57that upon consideration
51:59of laying out
52:00part of the stock
52:02of the Royal Society
52:03to the best advantage
52:05it was concluded
52:06that 200 pounds
52:08original stock
52:09in the African company
52:11should be bought
52:12and that of course
52:14is the Royal African Company
52:16and it tells us
52:19in the minutes
52:19that a Mr Hill
52:21was to carry out
52:22this transaction
52:23on behalf
52:24of the Society
52:25now
52:26this is
52:28Mr Abraham Hill
52:29he's also
52:30listed here
52:31as a member
52:31of the Council
52:32and he was
52:34the Treasurer
52:35of the Royal Society
52:36and it is
52:37possible
52:38to follow
52:39this transaction
52:40across the days
52:42and across London
52:44because we find
52:45Abraham Hill
52:46in the minutes
52:47of another meeting
52:48that took place
52:49on the 28th of November
52:50six days later
52:52and this was a meeting
52:54held
52:54at African House
52:56which was the headquarters
52:57of the Royal African Company
53:00on Leadenhall
53:00in the heart
53:01of the City of London
53:03and it was a meeting
53:04of the Court
53:05of Assistance
53:06the board
53:07of the Royal African Company
53:09and here
53:10on this page
53:11is the name
53:13Mr Abraham Hill
53:16now he carries out
53:18two transactions
53:20both
53:20for
53:21£200
53:22of Royal African Company
53:24stock
53:25now we think
53:26that one of these transactions
53:28was
53:29a personal
53:30private investment
53:31and that the other
53:32was the £200
53:34he was investing
53:35on behalf
53:36of the Royal Society
53:38so this
53:40this is the moment
53:41when one of England's
53:43greatest institutions
53:44a society
53:45at the heart
53:46of the English
53:47Enlightenment
53:48of the drive
53:49for science
53:50and experiment
53:51and reason
53:52that that society
53:53became
53:54an investor
53:55in the slave trade
54:04in the years
54:05the Royal Society
54:06held shares
54:07in the Royal African Company
54:09it received
54:10a little over
54:11£132
54:12in dividends
54:14£26,000
54:16in today's money
54:22the links
54:23between the Royal Society
54:25and the slave trade
54:26have been researched
54:27by the society
54:28itself
54:29the same spirit
54:31of open investigation
54:32upon which
54:33the scientific principles
54:35of the society
54:36have always rested
54:37are being applied
54:38to its own history
54:41but the Royal Society
54:43is just one
54:44of many institutions
54:46that benefited
54:47financially
54:48from the trade
54:49in enslaved Africans
54:53the research
54:54carried out
54:55for the Register
54:56of British Slave Traders
54:57has uncovered
54:57more connections
54:59and collated
55:00the names
55:00of institutions
55:01onto their database
55:05you will have
55:06uncovered
55:07the histories
55:07of organisations
55:08that don't know
55:10their own histories
55:11that don't know
55:12of these connections
55:13to the slave trade
55:14what do we do
55:15with this knowledge
55:16one of the things
55:17that we started
55:18is to let some
55:19of these organisations
55:19know about these connections
55:21I think it's true
55:22to say that
55:22most organisations
55:24of a certain age
55:25may have assumed
55:25a connection
55:26and they may not know
55:27precisely what that
55:28consists of
55:28and this data
55:29can help them
55:29to understand that
55:30and confront it
55:32I think we established
55:33early on
55:33that if we're looking
55:34at an institution
55:35that has roots
55:36into the 17th
55:37or 18th century
55:38the likelihood
55:39is more than not
55:40that there will be
55:40links to the slave trade
55:41in one way or another
55:42whether that's
55:43businesses that still operate
55:45or charities
55:45and I think that just
55:46shows how endemic
55:47the trade was
55:48in the British economy
55:49women could take
55:50the proceeds
55:51from investing
55:52in the slave trade
55:52and use them
55:53as a way to gain
55:54access to institutions
55:55that they otherwise
55:56would have been
55:56excluded from
55:57for example
55:58women leave
55:58substantial gifts
56:00to Oxford and
56:01Cambridge colleges
56:01they wouldn't have
56:02been allowed
56:02to study there
56:03there must have
56:04been moments
56:05when you're looking
56:05at numbers
56:06and figures
56:07and investments
56:08on bits of paper
56:09that you remember
56:10that this is about
56:12the trafficking
56:13of men, women
56:14and children
56:14there must have
56:15been some
56:15difficult moments
56:16in the research
56:17yeah absolutely
56:17what we've done
56:18overall is to
56:20kind of introduce
56:2213,000 individuals
56:24give them personalities
56:26give them prominence
56:27whilst understanding
56:29that the over 3 million
56:31enslaved African people
56:32who they've transported
56:33almost remain
56:35completely anonymous
56:45before the restoration
56:46of the Stuart dynasty
56:48and the establishment
56:49of the first
56:50of the royal monopoly
56:51companies
56:52the English share
56:53of the European slave trade
56:55was around 5%
56:57by 1683
57:00England's market share
57:01had risen
57:02to 54%
57:04by that year
57:05those royal companies
57:07had transported
57:08around 70,000 Africans
57:10into slavery
57:11and two years later
57:13the royal African company
57:15achieved a new
57:16and unprecedented level
57:18of power
57:19and influence
57:20when King Charles II
57:21suddenly grew ill
57:23and died
57:26the successor
57:27to King Charles
57:28was the man
57:29whose statue
57:30stands here
57:31on the edge
57:32of Trafalgar Square
57:33his brother
57:33James Duke of York
57:35when he came
57:36to the throne
57:37in 1685
57:38it meant
57:39that the governor
57:40of the royal African company
57:42was now also
57:43the ruling monarch
57:45company investors
57:46both private individuals
57:48and institutions
57:50could now
57:50look forward
57:51to the continued growth
57:53of England's share
57:54of the Atlantic slave trade
57:56and the continued growth
57:57of their profits
58:03but what followed
58:04was not a boom
58:06for the royal African company
58:07but the fall
58:09and exile
58:10of King James
58:11and the emergence
58:12of a new
58:13and rival set
58:14of companies
58:15and investors
58:16who were to transform
58:17the slave trade
58:23next time
58:24a new
58:25deregulated
58:26privatized age
58:27begins
58:28spreading the slave trade
58:29to towns
58:30and cities
58:31across Britain
58:32next time
58:55you
59:01Legenda Adriana Zanotto