Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga
2026 · BBC iPlayer · 59 min · 1 season
S01E02 · Episode 2
Mon, 21 Sept, 3:00 pm
David Olusoga reveals how the end of the royal monopoly and the expansion of the trade was the 'big bang' moment in the story of the slave trade. In the 18th century, the trade in enslaved Africans would reach its peak as it expanded out of the royal court to provincial towns and ports across the country, with thousands of new investors.
About
Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga is set to explore the individuals, institutions and organisations who financed Britain's trade in enslaved Africans from its first tentative steps in the 16th century to abolition of the trade in 1807.
Based on exclusive access to the findings of a new academic research project, led by Professor William Pettigrew, this series follows the work of the research team who, over five years, built a new database; the Register of British Slave Traders.
The series paints a forensic portrait of the traders and investors and the vast and complex system of investment and profits they created. It shows where they lived, how much money they made and uncovers links between modern British institutions and the trade in enslaved people.
Twelve years ago, in the series Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners, David Olusoga explored the compensation paid to Britain's slave owners when slavery in the British Empire was abolished in 1833. This new series uncovers the identities and the back stories of the slave traders – the thousands of individuals and organisations who engaged in the trade in human beings.
Episodes
- E01
Episode 1
Mon, 21 Sept· 59 minDavid Olusoga meets the historians who have built the Register of British Slave Traders. For five years, they have searched through thousands of documents, piecing together a comprehensive picture of over 13,000 individuals who were investors in the slave trade. Anyone can now log on and discover who the slave traders were, where they lived, how much money they made and the links between modern British institutions and the trade in human beings. David discovers how the monarchy drove the early British slave trade. He learns how Elizabeth I and the early Stuarts gave their support to early slavery ventures; how the restored monarchy in the 1660s, seeking new ways to strengthen its finances and authorities, chartered a joint-stock monopoly company dedicated to the trade in enslaved Africans; and how James II, the company's governor, becoming king led to the emergence of a new and rival set of companies and investors who would transform the slave trade.
- E02
Episode 2
Mon, 21 Sept· 59 minDavid Olusoga reveals how the end of the royal monopoly and the expansion of the trade was the 'big bang' moment in the story of the slave trade. In the 18th century, the trade in enslaved Africans would reach its peak as it expanded out of the royal court to provincial towns and ports across the country, with thousands of new investors.
Cast
David Olusoga
Presenter