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Bristol and the Slave Trade c.1550-1807

Unit Description

  Bristol played a major role in the transatlantic slave trade and many members of the city’s community benefited from its proceeds.  The wealth which it generated is still evident in today’s city and some would also argue in the institutions which were endowed on the back of the trade. Yet Bristolians also came to be at the forefront of moves to end the trade and played a central role in its eventual abolition.

 This unit looks at the origins of the slave trade and how Bristol ’s merchants came to be involved. Students will examine trading voyages and trace the impact this had on all those involved. The expansion of the trade and the reasons for its decline will be explored, and the role of those associated with Bristol in the eventual abolition of the trade will be considered.

 Contact Hours and Mode of Teaching: 

10 x 2 hour seminars

Methods of Assessment: 

1 x 3000 word essay (formative), 1 x 2 hour exam (100%)

 Essential Reading

 Pip Jones, Satan’s Kingdom: Bristol and the Transatlantic Slave Trade ( Bristol , 2007).

Madge Dresser, Slavery Obscured: The Social History of the Slave Trade in an English Provincial Port ( London , 2001).

P.E.H. Hair, The Atlantic Slave Trade and Black Africa ( Liverpool , 1989).

Peter Marshall, The Anti-Slave Trade Movement in Bristol ( Bristol , 1968).

 
©Duncan Taylor 2009