1725-1750: The Rise of Bristol: Bristol became the largest slave-trading port in Europe during the second quarter of the eighteenth century.

1725-1750: The Rise of Bristol: Bristol became the largest slave-trading port in Europe during the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Its merchants supplied the majority of captives sent to Jamaica to support the island’s booming sugar economy. Most of these individuals were forcibly taken from the Gold Coast and the Bight of Biafra. However, the port eventually fell behind Liverpool due to its increasingly congested and geographically restricted harbor. Nuance: Bristol’s success was built on its proximity to the Chesapeake and the West Indies, and its ability to refine the “Triangular” route more efficiently than the older, more bureaucratic London-based companies. This period represents the “Peak of the Individual Merchant,” where decentralized private wealth drove the expansion of the Atlantic system.