FCDO Historians

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is the government department responsible for promoting British interests overseas, supporting UK citizens and businesses, and eradicating poverty around the globe. The FCDO Historians provide a long-term, policy-relevant perspective on international issues, and contribute to the collective knowledge and understanding of the FCDO and British foreign & development policy. All the documents on this site have been published by FCDO Historians over the past 40 years and cover a wide range of historical subjects in a variety of different formats: History Notes examine subjects from the slave trade to Nazi gold; Occasional Papers record lectures given at the FCDO; research papers written by the FCDO Historians; Documents from the British Archives reproduce original documents on specific topics from the Foreign Office archives; Witness Seminars contain oral testimony given by FCDO alumni; along with other miscellaneous publications.