This guide deals primarily with aspects of the transatlantic slave trade and records in the National Records of Scotland (NRS). It also mentions some other Scottish archives relating to Scotland's involvement in the trade and its abolition. Some researchers are interested in information about enslaved individuals or former enslaved people, while others are interested in conditions or events on particular plantations, slave voyages, or the abolition movement. Research is also carried out in Scottish archives into other forms and aspects of slavery, for example the concepts of free and unfree status of women and serfs in medieval Scotland; transportation to the colonies of rebels during the religious wars and of criminals; bonded labour in the early modern period; and the enslavement of Scots by North African corsairs in the seventeenth century.
It is possible to carry out research on some of these subjects in the NRS, which holds the records of Scottish courts and churches, and some estate papers relating to plantations owned by enslavers. Other aspects of the trade are better researched elsewhere, for example in The National Archives, London, or in other archives and libraries. The following sections deal with aspects of the slave trade and suggest relevant sources of information.
Please note this guide contains language which, although considered acceptable and widely used in the past, we now consider offensive. We are committed to amending this large-scale legacy in our catalogue continuously over time so it should be possible in the future to find all relevant material without the use of these terms as search words.
