Enslavement markets and auctions
Following the union of parliaments in 1707, Scotland gained formal access to the transatlantic slave trade. Scottish merchants became increasingly involved in the trade and Scottish planters (especially sugar and tobacco) began to settle in the colonies, generating much of their wealth through enslaved labour. Evidence of the acquisition of enslaved individuals from slave traders and other enslavers can be found among the Estate and plantation records and the Business records of merchants and individuals involved in enslavement.
Enslaved individuals on plantations
The main source of information in the NRS for events and conditions on plantations is estate papers of landowners in Scotland who owned plantations in the colonies. Letters, inventories and, occasionally, estate plans in these collections are an excellent source for researching the lives of enslaved persons on plantations in the colonies, their living conditions and the general attitude towards slavery and the slave trade. See below under estate and plantation records and also pictorial evidence.
