Sir John Hawkins, a British privateer, makes the first known British slaving trip to Africa, burning villages to capture 300 people who would later be sold in the Caribbean. Find out more.
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Queen Elizabeth I expels black people by Royal Proclamation, saying that: ‘…. the said kind of people shall be with all speed avoided and discharged out of this Her Majesty’s realms.’
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This snuffbox contains a miniature painting of a wealthy woman and her enslaved child servant. Rich Britons often have themselves painted with their slaves as symbols of status and wealth. Find out more.
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The account book from the slave ship Molly lists the transaction of trade goods at Bonny (in Ghana). These goods include knives, guns and slaves, showing that traders view human beings as ‘cargo’. Find out more.
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Campaigner Granville Sharp publishes the first major anti-slavery text by a British author. Entitled A Representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of admitting the least claim of private property in the persons of men, in England, it looks at the law and history to explain that people cannot become the property of other people.
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The Letters of Ignatius Sancho is published after the author’s death. Sancho writes about his thoughts on the evils of slavery and looks back on his life and times, saying that ‘an untutored African may possess abilities equal to a European’.
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