a slave ship, circa 1780

At least it is a painting of a Liverpool-based ship by William Jackson believed to be involved in the slave trade and bears strong similarities to the same artist’s picture, 'Liverpool Slave Ship', painted about the same time, and now at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. This one is in the National Maritime Museum.

Like other colonial powers, the British were involved in transporting slaves from Africa to the New World colonies until the slave trade was outlawed by the British parliament in 1807.

How many slaves were taken from Africa on ships like these? According to this website, an amazing 12.5 million slaves were shipped between 1525 and 1866, of which 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean and South America.

And contrary to popular belief, of these 10.7 million Africans, only about 388,000 were taken to North America. By comparison, Brazil under the Portuguese received 4.86 million Africans, over 10 times more than the USA.