Sugar’s history within the transatlantic slave trade

This activity looks at the way the popularity of sugar stimulated the spread of sugar across the world, feeding one of history’s greatest atrocities, the transatlantic slave trade. It is a key feature in the history of sugar.

Please note that this resource doesn’t intend to provide a detailed education on the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Nor does it intend to act as a token acknowledgement of these great atrocities. The aim of this resource is to focus on sugar as a vehicle to look at different themes, experiences and histories. Please adapt and amend, as with all of our resources, to what works for you.

This is the third activity in a series of resources designed around sugar. See the others below:

• Examining sugar using slow looking
• The origins of sugar
• Sugar and art through time and across cultures
• Sugar tax: where health and politics meet

SHAPE is a collective name for social sciences, humanities and the arts. SHAPE subjects play a vital role within our communities and in shaping our lives – past, present and future. SHAPE skills give us the tools to enact change and allow us to better understand the world by providing a myriad of ways to express, analyse and interpret our global world and human experiences.

For more information about the underpinning principles of the resources, visit our website.