Description:

Queen Elizabeth I became concerned with the increasing number of black people in England, and in 1596 she ordered that all black people be deported to Spain and Portugal, to be exchanged for English prisoners of war. She had to repeat the order in 1601, ordering her subjects to deliver up their Negroes and blackamoores.

The language used to describe people of African descent in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries is unacceptable in today’s terms. We cannot avoid using this language in its original context. To change the words would impose 20th century attitudes on history.

Creator: British School

Date: c.1570s

Copyright: Copyright BCC Museum