The 1713 Asiento: Britain's License to Traffic in Human Beings

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession and granted Britain a unique prize: the asiento, a monopoly contract to supply enslaved Africans to Spain's American colonies. This episode follows the asiento's journey from a Portuguese monopoly through Genoese, Dutch, and French hands to its final, most lucrative incarnation under the British South Sea Company. We trace the political maneuverings in Madrid and London, the staggering profits that fueled the South Sea Bubble, and the human cost calculated in the 144,000 enslaved people delivered over three decades. Meet the key figures: King Philip V, Queen Anne, the Duke of Manchester, and the company directors who turned human misery into shareholder dividends. We explore how the asiento reshaped Atlantic trade routes, entrenched slavery in Spanish America, and provided a legal cover for British smuggling. A story of imperial ambition, financial speculation, and the commodification of human life that defined the early 18th-century Atlantic world. #Asiento #TreatyOfUtrecht #SouthSeaCompany #TransatlanticSlaveTrade #BritishEmpire #SpanishEmpire #PhilipV #QueenAnne #DukeOfManchester #SlaveTradeMonopoly #1713 #WarOfSpanishSuccession #Veracruz #Cartagena #BuenosAires #AtlanticHistory #ColonialSlavery #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo