Southampton trade historians teach AI to read handwriting

The University of Southampton project revealed how Britain grew into an Empire through its links with Europe, using data spanning from the Elizabethan Era in the 16th Century, to just before the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century.

The AI learned how to read and recognise the historical handwriting belonging to early-modern seafarers to learn details about "who was trading what, with whom, when and where," researchers said.

Researchers found that key goods Britons traded included coal and ale, followed by children's toys from China, sheep guts and Venice treacle, a herbal medicine that was believed to cure almost any illness.

An interactive map has been developed out of the research to help people navigate and explore the extensive data for themselves.

The project found that even as the British Empire was expanding, between 1696–97 "European markets accounted for around 80 percent of the recorded value of England's overseas trade".

Researchers said it has mapped the development of England's trade routes and global impact over two centuries in detail for the first time.

Historian and lead researcher Professor Craig Lambert said compiling the data, which was taken from leather-bound parchment books at the National Archives in Kew, was a "massive task" but AI "sped up the process enormously".

Historians have uncovered 461 years of Britain's maritime past using AI.

Researchers said that Europe was once a more crucial trading partner than might have previously been thought.

The study involved training AI to process about 100,000 pages of handwritten records, a task that would have taken years if done manually.