Listen to the story
slavetrade.mp3 Bristol became an important
[?] as early as the Middle Ages. But its history has a dark period. At the end of the 17th century, it began to draw part of its
[?] from a new source, that in our own times is
[?] the transatlantic trade in slaves. This had been begun by the Portugese in the 15th century, but was then
[?] by the British as they increased the number of their colonies in the West Indies and North America.
It became a
[?] of voyages. First of all, ships would leave Britain with goods to sell - everything from
[?] to guns. They would sail to West Africa, where those goods would be exchanged or sold to African
[?] in return for slaves. The slaves would then be shipped across the Atlantic to the British colonies, to be sold as
[?] on the plantations. The final side of the triangle was when the
[?] sailed back to Bristol with the produce of those plantations, such as sugar, tobacco, cocoa, coffee and cotton. Despite the fact that these voyages were very
[?] , opposition to slave trading
[?] in Britain all through the 18th century, and the trade was
[?] in British territories and British ships in 1807.