THE HORROR

From The Grauniad:-

Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online

 

This article blew my mind. I don't think I ever truly realised the magnitude & horror of the slave trade until I dove into this resource. 

I had a quick look by searching on the surname Howell, as that can be the enslaver, or the enslaved. Often, the enslaved were given their enslaver's surname. Often the progeny of raped slaves were also given the surname of the enslaver. I think this accounted for the entry showing "Creole". How else would a black American have a Welsh surname? 

A quick search showed over 10 entries for slaves, surprisingly all in Jamaica, with the surname Howell.

The detail was startling. By chosing one first name randomly, I found this:-

Which led to this - 

That's just the first 20 out of 715. Digging on, and thence on to this ;-

Look at the numbers & ages of those involved. Shocking. 4 million slaves. That is just British colonies.