Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online
Exclusive: Collection’s 300,000 pages record lives of enslaved people in countries including the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, South Africa and Trinidad
TL;DR
- Nearly 4 million records concerning enslaved people in 20 former British colonies are now searchable online.
- The collection, named Former British Colonies Enslavement Registers, contains 300,000 pages from 1813 to 1840.
- Records include names, ages, physical descriptions, family ties, and transfers of ownership.
- Ancestry partnered with University College London to digitise and index the records.
- The registers were originally created by the British government to monitor enslaved populations and prevent illegal trading.
- Descendants can now access these records to uncover their family histories and restore the humanity of their ancestors.
- The collection includes records from former colonies such as the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, and Trinidad.
- The release of these records shifts research focus towards the experiences of enslaved people themselves.
- Researchers believe these records can help recover family stories, community narratives, and accounts of survival and resistance.