Event Detail

The South Sea Company and the Atlantic Slave Trade

Friday, May 16, 2025 at 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Cost: $35.00

Sponsor: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

For more information call: 626-405-2100

Or click here: https://www.huntington.org/event/south-sea-company-and-atlantic-slave-trade

This two-day conference aims to transform understandings of the South Sea Company by shifting attention away from its famous stock bubble and towards its primary business: buying and selling human beings. The South Sea Company (SSC), founded in London in 1711, was one of history’s largest slaving entities. Granted the Spanish Crown’s asiento, it held exclusive rights to transport enslaved people to the Spanish Empire. Between 1713 and 1739, it forcibly transported 42,000 Africans to the Americas and relocated 48,000 from the British Caribbean. Despite the SSC’s central role in the Atlantic slave trade, it is primarily remembered for the speculative bubble that developed around its stock in 1720—a financial crisis often called the “First Crash,” which has been the subject of over a dozen books. In contrast, no single book has been dedicated to examining the South Sea Company’s involvement in the slave trade. This conference will address that oversight by exploring the SSC’s role in human trafficking across six expert panels. Discussions will begin with an examination of the company's archival records and financial backers, followed by its operations in the British Caribbean, the role of its trading agents, and its slave trafficking in the Spanish Americas. The event will conclude by addressing the broader legacies of the South Sea Company’s slave trade. Conference registration includes general admission to The Huntington. Lunch reservations close on May 12 at noon. For more information and to register, visit the above provided link.