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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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We do have multiple letters from Queen Elizabeth I to the Lord Mayor of London complaining about the large numbers of “negars and blackmoores” in London and demanding that they be deported (they weren’t). I’m not sure if the people she is referring to would be what are now considered black people, or if they were more northern African.

That is post Age of Discovery though. The Atlantic Slave Trade had started by then and the Medieval ages ended over 100 years ago by then.

Sure, and iirc there was allegedly a substantial population of black people in Lisbon by perhaps 1510, which is not wholly unbelievable given the already substantial Portuguese trade with West Africa around that time. But that’s well into the “age of discovery”, so not really applicable to the question.