What role did Scotland play in the slave trade?

Scotland and the Slave Trade

The Act of Union in 1707 allowed Scottish merchants access to England’s established trade route with the new colonies.

Scots travelled to the colonies from all parts of the country, some transported by force, others seeking opportunity and adventure. Merchants arrived, followed by administrators, doctors, and missionaries.

Estates were set up, particularly in the Caribbean, growing crops such as sugar and tobacco. Much of the labour in the Caribbean was supplied by slave labour.

Scots prospered from the colonies. In 1796, Scots owned nearly 30% of the estates in Jamaica. In 1817 they owned 32% of the slaves. Glasgow also prospered from the wealth generated by slave labour in the Caribbean providing it with the money to become a major port and the 'Second City of the Empire'. The 'Tobacco Lords' made their wealth in the colonies before returning to Scotland, many building large mansions.

Some of this wealth was invested in Scotland’s developing industries – during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Scotland became one of the most advanced industrial economies in the world.

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The Triangular Trade

Ships were loaded in key English ports with guns, copper and brass goods and other manufactured articles.

These were then transported to the west coast of Africa and traded for young men and women who had been enslaved by African merchants.

After a long journey, crammed below decks, with little air, food or water, the survivors were sold in the southern USA, the Caribbean islands and South America, where they were used to work the plantations.

These were large farms growing crops wanted in Europe, principally tobacco, sugar and cotton. The merchant ships would load up with these products and take them back to Britain on the last leg of their journey.

It was a three-legged voyage, known as the triangular trade, designed to keep the ships fully laden at all times and maximise profits.

Ships from Glasgow took part in this trade on an occasional basis but more often engaged in direct trade with the plantations.