Beginning in the latter part of the sixteenth century British naval and shipping interests gradually emerged as one of the major maritime forces operating in African waters and, by the end of the eighteenth century, British shipping dominated the export slave trade. The establishment of colonial plantation economies in the Americas, the global expansion of British political and commercial interests resulting from the Napoleonic Wars, and the anti-slave trade suppression campaign in the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century all brought British seafarers into intimate association with African peoples. This relationship became more intense with the scramble for colonial territories throughout the continent in the late nineteenth century.

As a direct consequence of this extensive political and economic relationship a voluminous amount of documentary material exists. One of the principal depositories of this material is the National Maritime Museum (NMM) of Great Britain located in Greenwich, southeast of Central London. This essay reviews some of the documentary holdings found in the Library of the NMM, resources that scholars might find useful in reconstructing British maritime activities in relation to peoples of African descent. Located within the Museum its holdings include printed books and other printed materials, maps and atlases, rare and original manuscripts, ship's plans and drawings, collections on shipwrecks, piracy, and boats, together with various photographic and art collections. While the Library is free and open to the public, it is helpful to contact the Secretary of the NMM with a letter of introduction prior to a first visit.