Black and British: A Forgotten History, from the acclaimed historian and star of 'Celebrity Traitors'

by David Olusoga

Hawkins had attacked and plundered a number of Portuguese vessels, seizing the enslaved Africans on board. With his ships loaded up ‘with that prey he sailed over the Ocean sea unto the island of Hispaniola’ (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Hawkins called at several Spanish colonies and sold his commodities, including the African captives. According to Hakluyt ‘he received, by way of exchange, hides, ginger, sugars, and some pearls’. When he arrived back in England in September 1563 he had, through this one expedition, made himself a fortune and proved that English ships could break into the Spanish trade in African slaves, even though English participation in the trade was prohibited under Spanish law. He had also shown that buying and selling human beings could be as profitable as the trade in gold.