The first European nation to engage in the Transatlantic Slave Trade was Portugal in the mid to late 1400’s. Captain John Hawkins made the first known English slaving voyage to Africa, in 1562, in the reign of Elizabeth I. Estimates, based on records of voyages in the archives of port customs and maritime insurance records, put the total number of African slaves transported by European traders, to at least 12 million people.

This Slave Trade was the richest part of Britain’s trade in the 18th century. James Houston, who worked for a firm of 18th-century slave merchants, wrote, “What a glorious and advantageous trade this is… It is the hinge on which all the trade of this globe moves.”

London’s roots are embedded in the colonisation of the continents of Africa and the America’s. Engraved in the capital’s big buildings and bright lights, are stories of Britain’s involvement of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Hidden in plain sight, London keeps its memory of the glorification of stolen African lives that capitalised the “streets paved with gold”.

The British flag is sowed with the thread of the colonised, Britannia rests her head on pillows made from Coffee, Cotton, Sugar, Tea, Rubber and Tobacco. The story of greed, corruption and exploitation starts with a money trail that leads into the heart of London. The profits gained from chattel slavery helped to finance the Industrial Revolution and the Caribbean islands became the hub of the British Empire. The sugar colonies were Britain’s most valuable colonies.

This tour follows the hidden story of one of Britain’s first Slave Traders, The Plantation Economy Triangle and blood money trail of the Lloyds family, and how they grew rich from the fees and interest they earned from merchants who borrowed money for their long voyages and they’re corporation involvement in the handling of enslaved people.

Join us on this journey, of how modern London came to be and witness European psychosis of cognitive dissonance in the oppression of Black men, women and children.

Register here

NB: Start Time: 12:00 PM prompt – meet 15 minutes Before Tour starts

Meeting Point: Bank Station (outside The Royal Exchange)

Length: Average 2.5hrs. Please wear comfortable footwear and bring water in case of hot weather conditions.

For further information, please contact blackrooted@hotmail.com