The Atlantic Slave Trade, 1770-1807: overview of the SQA National 5 British context

The Atlantic Slave Trade, 1770-1807 (in current SQA terminology, the trade in enslaved African people) is one of the topic options in the British context of SQA National 5 History. It studies how Britain took part in the forced transport and enslavement of African people, and how the British slave trade was eventually abolished. Your centre may study this option or another British topic (for example Changing Britain, or the Making of Modern Britain); the question types are the same whichever is chosen. This page maps the topic and shows how its parts connect. The history is presented factually.

The topic in stages

The triangular trade

Three legs linked Britain, West Africa and the Americas: manufactured goods to Africa, enslaved people across the Atlantic, and plantation produce back to Britain. Merchants profited at each leg, enriching ports such as Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow.

Capture in Africa

People were taken in raids and wars, marched to the coast and held in forts or barracoons. The trade removed millions of people and did lasting harm to African societies.

The Middle Passage

The Atlantic crossing was notorious for overcrowding, disease, cruelty and a high death rate, because ships were packed tightly for profit.

Life on the plantations

Enslaved people were sold and forced into hard, dangerous labour, above all on sugar. Planters and overseers controlled them through harsh punishment.

Resistance

Enslaved people resisted constantly, from everyday sabotage and running away to keeping their culture alive and organising revolts, though large-scale rebellion was very difficult.

Abolition

A long campaign, using petitions, boycotts, testimony and moral and religious arguments, and helped by the resistance of the enslaved, abolished the British slave trade in 1807.

How to study this context

1. Learn the conditions in detail. The Middle Passage and the plantations are examined as Describe questions; develop each grim fact into a full point.
2. Master the causes. Why so many died, why African societies were damaged, why the trade was abolished and why it was opposed are all Explain questions.
3. Weigh competing factors. Abolition had many causes; learn the range rather than crediting one person.
4. Use accurate terminology. SQA now uses "the trade in enslaved African people"; revise from the current specification.

For the official course specification

The SQA (now Qualifications Scotland) publishes the full National 5 History course specification, specimen and past papers and marking instructions at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and SQA past papers, and confirm which British-context option your centre is teaching.