This week we are revisiting our Cotton Capital series that originally ran in April 2023. Today in Focus will be back with new episodes on Tuesday 29 August.
Episode four begins in the port of Badagry, a market town on the south-west coast of Nigeria. Enslaved African people were kept here, sometimes for months, before being marched on to ships and taken across the Atlantic Ocean. For many, Brazil was their final destination.
During the transatlantic slave trade, more enslaved African people were taken to Brazil than any other country. It’s another place where the Guardian has found a link between its founding editor, John Edward Taylor, some of his financial backers and transatlantic slavery.
Prof Toyin Falola describes the history of the Atlantic slave trade in west Africa. Antonio Pita, a journalist and tour guide, visits Salvador, Bahia, which was one of Brazil’s most important ports for the trade in enslaved people. Tiago Rogero, a journalist, examines the impact the transatlantic slave trade is still having in Brazil today. Rogero’s work includes a highly acclaimed podcast series called Project Querino, which looks at Brazil’s history through the prism of slavery. Dr Joseph Mulhern examines the role of British merchants in Brazil in the 19th century.
Cotton Capital is a six-part podcast series looking at the Guardian’s links to transatlantic slavery and the legacies of that history. It takes listeners from Manchester to Jamaica, the US, Nigeria and Brazil and back to the UK.
Host: Maya Wolfe-Robinson
Guests: Prof Toyin Falola, Tiago Rogero, Antonio Pita, Dr Joseph Mulhern and Iya Neuza Cruz
Reporter: Emmanuel Akinwotu
Series producer: Courtney Yusuf
Producer: Silas Gray
Consultant executive producer: Colin Stone
Historical consultants: Prof Abosede George and Prof Maria Helena Pereira Toledo Machado
Original music: Melo-Zed
Sound design: Max Sanderson
Development series producer: Tej Adeleye
Development producers: Weyland McKenzie-Witter and Fatuma Khaireh
Commissioning editors: Nicole Jackson and Maya Wolfe-Robinson
With thanks to: Shakur, Niaziche Dos Santos, Gabriel Swahili, Zezé Ifatolá Olukemi, Valmir Pereira, Antônio Gonçalves Garcia, Dai Costa, Rychelmy Esutobi, Heraldo de Deus and Crispin
Illustration: Mark Harris/The Guardian
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