author
William Snelgrave
1681–1743
An English sea captain whose firsthand account of the West African trade became one of the better-known 18th-century books on Guinea and the slave trade. His career also drew attention because he wrote about encounters with pirates and coastal commerce.
1 Audiobook
A new account of Guinea, and the slave-trade
by William Snelgrave
About the author
Born in 1681 and dead by 1743, William Snelgrave was an English sea captain who worked on the West African coast as a slave trader and ivory trader. He is now mainly remembered for his book A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea, and the Slave-Trade (published in 1734), which drew on his years of experience in the region.
His writing is important to historians because it offers a firsthand view of the Atlantic slave trade from the perspective of a participant. That also means it needs to be read critically: the book is a valuable historical source, but it reflects the attitudes and interests of an 18th-century trader involved in enslaving people.
A surviving Wikipedia article about Snelgrave includes a map connected with his work, but no clear portrait photograph or painting of him was available there, so no reliable profile image has been included here.