Glasgow has launched a slavery and colonial trail marking the city's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Glasgow City Council says the new walk will help residents and visitors better understand the city's past and colonial legacy.
During the 18th and 19th Centuries, Glasgow merchants amassed significant fortunes through the tobacco, sugar and cotton trades, all of which were closely linked to slave labour. The city has more than 60 streets and locations with historic connections to slavery, including Buchanan Street, as well as a number of buildings, and eight figures linked to the trade are commemorated across monuments in the city.
The first phase of the Legacy of Slavery and Colonialism Trail will take in sites including the City Chambers, the Merchant City, Trongate and the Gallery of Modern Art. The city council says it will show how wealth generated through slavery helped shape Glasgow's growth as a city and many of the institutions in it.
Councillor Susan Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, said the city has a
rich, complex and, at times, deeply uncomfortablehistory.
She added:
Many of Glasgow's glories were built on a legacy of slavery and colonialism.
She also said:
The consequences of that legacy for the descendants of enslaved and colonised people continue to this day, whether right here in Glasgow or in other parts of the world.
And she said:
This trail encourages Glaswegians to look again at familiar streets, buildings and landmarks, to learn more about parts of Glasgow's history that were overlooked for too long and to gain a fuller picture of the people, industries and institutions that helped shape our city.
The trail includes Glasgow City Chambers, where 40 Lord Provosts of Glasgow were connected to slavery between 1636 and 1834, and Cochrane Street, which is named in 1787 after the prominent tobacco lord Andrew Cochrane.
Glasgow City Chambers is one of the places on the new slavery trail, and Cochrane Street is named after the prominent tobacco lord Andrew Cochrane.
In 2022 the council issued an apology on behalf of the city to the descendants of enslaved people and the nations affected. Glasgow was a major trade route for sugar and tobacco for the slave states of America and the West Indies.
Aitken said many Glaswegians had fought against the slave trade, but there were also those who argued in favour of it. She stated:
The Glasgow we know today wouldn't exist without the labour of enslaved people and it's time to give them their proper place in our story.
The new trail has been informed by the research of Dr Stephen Mullen, a lecturer in history with a focus on legacies of Atlantic slavery at the University of Glasgow. It builds on the work of the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), who run Black History Month walking tours in the city.
Locations on the trail also include the City Halls, which served as a key site for anti-slavery meetings and rallies. The trail will be expanded with information relating to George Square when it reopens later this year.
