Description
English port on the River Mersey that experienced explosive growth from the late 17th century, becoming the world's leading slave trade port in the 18th century and, subsequently, the largest port for exporting manufactured goods and importing cotton, as well as an emigration center, in the 19th century.
Year of Foundation or Oldest Source
Received a town charter from King John in 1207. Significant growth began in the late 17th century. The world's first commercial enclosed dock (Old Dock, later Thomas Steers' Dock) opened in 1715.
Country (State or Region)
United Kingdom (England)
Location
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, on the east bank of the River Mersey estuary.
Structuring
Characterized by an interconnected and massive system of enclosed docks (wet docks) built along several kilometers of the Mersey's bank. Notable 18th-century docks include Old Dock (1715), Salthouse Dock (1753), George's Dock (1771), King's Dock (1788), Queen's Dock (1796). The 19th century saw a continuous and monumental expansion of the dock system (e.g., Albert Dock, 1846). The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, formed in 1858, managed the complex. The Port of Liverpool Building, headquarters of the port authority, was built between 1904-1907 with a modern reinforced concrete structure. Initial development occurred around a natural creek called "The Pool".
Notes
Phenomenal demographic and economic growth, becoming the "second city of the Empire." It was the world's largest slave trade port, organizing 4,894 expeditions and dominating the British and global trade in the final decades of the 18th and early 19th centuries. After the abolition of the trade in 1807, it became the world's leading port for importing raw cotton (mostly from the USA, produced by enslaved people until 1865), supplying Lancashire's textile industry. A major center for emigration from Europe to the Americas in the 19th century. An important industrial, shipbuilding, and shipping company center. The wealth generated by trade, including the slave trade, was fundamental to financing the expansion of the docks. The Liverpool Customs Bills of Entry (1820-1900) are a detailed primary source on its trade.
Sources
BRITISH ONLINE ARCHIVES. Liverpool Customs Bills of Entry, 1820–1900. [s.d.].; DISCOVERING BRISTOL. Bristol's slave ships. [s.d.].; HAGGERTY, Sheryllyn. ‘Merely for Money’? Business Culture in the Slave Trade Port of Eighteenth-Century Liverpool. 2012.; LIVERPOOL MARITIME SOCIETY. The Liverpool Dock System. [s.d.].; MARNOT, Bruno. Ports as Tools of European Expansion. Encyclopédie d'histoire numérique de l'Europe [online], 2020.; MUSEUM OF LIVERPOOL. Merseyside Historic Characterisation Project: Liverpool Part 3; Liverpool Part 6. 2011.; POWER, Andrew. A Demographic Study of Liverpool, 1660-1750. PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1986.; UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS LIBRARY. Primary sources: Slavery. [s.d.].; UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL LIBRARY. Special Collections & Archives: History. [s.d.].; WIKIPEDIA. Port of Liverpool Building. [s.d.].; WIKIPEDIA. Traite négrière à Nantes. [s.d.].
