The Metropolitan Origins of Transatlantic Racial Slavery in the Late Seventeenth Century.

The article examines the metropolitan origins of transatlantic racial slavery in late seventeenth-century London, focusing on how enslavers developed and refined runaway slave advertisements as a tool of control within the city's print culture. It highlights that many escapees, termed "freedom seekers," were children and young people, including Black Africans and South Asians, whose labor existed along a continuum of servitude, indentureship, and slavery. The study reveals the involvement of a broad social network—aristocrats, merchants, ship captains, and others—in sustaining slavery's infrastructure in London, challenging the prevailing view that mechanisms of slave surveillance originated primarily in colonial plantations. By analyzing diverse archival sources, including the "Runaway Slaves in Britain Project" database, the work sheds light on the complex racial, social, and economic dynamics underpinning early modern slavery in the British metropolitan context.