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Follow the money: the story of slavery and Shakespeare’s First Folio
As we reckon with the UK’s colonial past, we need to examine the history behind valuable books – even our beloved Shakespeare
Two stories, usually seen as disconnected, unfold themselves during the second half of the 18th century.
- Emma Smith
- The Guardian
The first is the increased dominance of Britain in the transatlantic slave trade.
According to estimates from the Slave Voyages database, the number of enslaved people carried by British ships more than doubled, from around 410,000 in the first quarter of the century to more than 830,000 in the third.
The second is the…