William de la Founte

William de la Founte was a Bristol merchant who settled in the Iberian Peninsula and became one of the first English expatriate entrepreneurs to profit from the Atlantic slave trade.

During the period of early development of the Atlantic slave trade, at the end of the 15th and early 16th centuries, merchants based in lower Andalusia in Spain became the pioneers of English slavery. De la Founte was, according to sources, the earliest English slaveholder there whose activities were documented in 1490. Integrated in the host society, de la Founte developed business interests in Lisbon, and in Huelva, Andalusia and was involved in trade of slaves to the soap industry in Lower Andalusia.

Perhaps traders like him, Thomas Malliard or Robert Thorne, who lived in Spain and traded in slaves, brought the first black slaves into England through the port of Bristol.