This document is a painting made in the eighteenth century. We don’t know its name. But we know that it was painted by Antonio Canal.

Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, was Italian. He was born in 1687 and died in He worked in Venice. Canaletto went to London because, after the war of Austria, his work was less famous. He was very successful in Italy. This painting was realized in London. His most famous work is ''Veduta di Corfu.'‘ He invented a new style of painting the perspective and the light. He was an enlightened artist (illumine'). Most of his paintings were panoramas (veduta).

We can see in this painting the River Thames. This river goes to the North Sea. There are many ships, because London had a big harbor. In the distance we can also see a bridge with many arches. It is the typical style of this century. Always in the distance, at the right of the river we can see the city of London.

At the time the king was Alfred the Big. The harbor of London was on the river. It was built at the Roman time. It was used for the triangular trade.

The triangular trade is a system that the Europeans invented after the discover of America. The traders of slaves went to Africa with arms and other objects, then they exchanged them with slaves, went to America to sell the slaves and buy tropical products for the European market. They became very rich. But the conditions of the slaves were horrible.