Slavery

The ship ‘Jesus of Lübeck’ was used in John Hawkins’ infamous early slaving voyages, some of which were sponsored by Elizabeth I. (Image by Alamy)

Were there slaves in Elizabethan England?

English admiral Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), circa 1585. (Photo by Getty Images)

Francis Drake: slave trader. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Francis Drake portrait

Francis Drake’s forgotten role in the English slave trade

American spotlight: how today’s protests echo historical outrage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain and the slave trade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From Nelson to Churchill: challenging British heroes with Afua Hirsch. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men operate a cotton gin in Dahomey, Mississippi, in 1898

7 key questions about the transatlantic slave trade – answered

A brief guide to the transatlantic slave trade

Abolition in Britain: the link between slavery and the British national identity

Woodcut illustration of slave labour on a sugar plantation

Success, sugar and slaves: the uncomfortable story of slaveholder Simon Taylor

Olaudah Equiano (Photo by Getty)

General Early Modern

Who was Olaudah Equiano – and why was his story of slavery so important?

An 1826 illustration from 'The Black Man's Lament

David Olusoga"Thousands of Britons opposed abolition – because they owned slaves"

Lemuel F Abbott's famous 1797 portrait of Horatio Nelson. In 1805, the British naval hero promised to speak publicly against the abolition of slavery, but was denied the opportunity by his death at Trafalgar later that year. (Picture by Alamy)

Lord Nelson and slavery: Nelson’s dark side

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies. "It’s the sort of thing to give you nightmares," says David Musgrove. (Photo by Album/British Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century

Traditional Kente cloth from Ghana (Photo by Dreamstime)

A new view of Africa’s past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Confronting evils.

Confronting evils. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Haiti slave revolt. (Image by Getty)

Slave revolt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anna WhitelockConfronting slavery’s legacy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The bronze statue in Washington DC celebrating Abraham Lincoln's emancipation of slaves shows the 16th president standing over a shackled African American. Lincoln is "one of the towering figures in the story that Americans tell about themselves," writes Lucy Worsley. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Lincoln and slavery: "If I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would"

My favourite place: Jamaica

Rags and riches: Enslaved people wash diamonds in Brazil, guarded by armed overseers, in a German engraving of 1828. Diamonds were discovered in Minas Gerais state in the late 17th century. (Picture by Alamy)

Brazil: a society shaped by slavery

Michael Wood on... slavery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

View of Algiers with mediterranean galleys, published in Johannes van Keulen's Dutch Atlas, 1709. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

When Britons were slaves in Africa

Crusade logistics and the battle over the slave trade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian at the Movies: Belle reviewed. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian at the Movies: 12 Years a Slave reviewed. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

18th-century slave uprising

The Uganda railway, which links Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya, was built during the period of British control of East Africa. (SSPL/Getty Images)

The dark side of abolitionism

The end of slavery and headaches in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A European buyer of enslaved people

General History

Who started the enslavement of Africans in the Americas?