Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History
Zong Massacre Legal Case and Abolition
In 1781, the captain of the slave ship Zong ordered 132 enslaved Africans thrown overboard to claim insurance. This episode explores the Zong massacre, the subsequent legal battle that horrified Britain, and how the case became a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement. We cover the ship's voyage from the Gold Coast to Jamaica, the insurance dispute, the role of Olaudah Equiano, Granville Sharp, and the trial judge Lord Mansfield. We also examine the legal fiction that enslaved people were 'cargo' and how the case exposed the brutal calculus of the slave trade. The episode…
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