Bristol City Council passed a motion at an extraordinary full council meeting on Tuesday.
The motion – atonement and reparation for Bristol’s role in the transatlantic traffic in enslaved Afrikans – was supported by 47 councillors, and opposed by 12.
Ahead of the meeting, Green party councillor Cleo Lake, who brought the motion, said the city had “played a leading role in trafficking and enslaving people, so as a city we now need to play a leading role in being honest about that and calling for systemic change”.
She added: “Reparations is not a paycheque for the descendants of people who were enslaved – it is a process outlined by the UN which looks for ‘holistic repair’.