Zone 1

As you enter the gallery begin your visit by watching a thought-provoking and moving video made by the young film-maker Stephen Rudder, which is intended to emphasise how London, West Africa and the Caribbean – the three points of the Triangle Trade - are linked as a result of London’s slave trade. The video reinforces one of the gallery’s key messages that we all belong to this history - it is not solely ‘black history’, it is London’s history.

As a prelude to the introduction of the slave trade, the gallery considers Africa as it was known in the 17th and 18th centuries. Here you can see beautifully crafted metal work from West Africa which refutes the claim that Africa had no culture, history or sophistication.

Rough moulds for making sugar cones on the plantations are contrasted with the fine porcelain with which sweetened coffee was drunk in London. Compare both romantic and realistic images of the plantations to understand how they were presented here in Britain in the 18th century.

Further along you can explore the operation of the Triangle Trade. Examine beads produced for purchasing Africans which are displayed along with original documents recording the shipment of enslaved people into the Caribbean, and the loading of plantation produce onto the same ships for delivery to London.

Some of the letter books and journals of Thomas Mills, who owned plantations in St Kitts and Nevis, have been put out on show for the first time. These help illustrate the horrific reality of slavery and show how Mills was directly involved in the slave trade.  Ironically, you will also find in this display an ‘affectionate’ letter written by Mills to one of the enslaved men on his plantation.

In this part of the gallery use our computer terminal to explore sites in modern London that were connected to slavery and the Abolition campaigns to really understand the impact of the slave trade on the capital.