The trans-Atlantic slave trade expanded greatly in the 18th century, growing from a relatively small enterprise to a global business that saw millions of African people clapped in irons, forced to undergo the tortuous Middle Passage and then sold at market in the Americas. Speaking to Rhiannon Davies, Nicholas Radburn investigates the merchants across the globe who tried to expand their bottom lines by branching out into slave trading.

(Ad) Nicholas Radburn is the author of Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Yale University Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Traders-Men-Merchants-Transformation-Transatlantic/dp/0300257619/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices