When was international slave trade abolished

Trading ships would set sail from Europe with a cargo of manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa. There, these goods would be traded, over weeks and months, for captured people provided by African traders. European traders found it easier to do business with African intermediaries who raided settlements far away from the African coast and brought those young and healthy enough to the coast to be sold into slavery. Once full, the European trader's ship would depart for the Americas or the Caribbean on the notorious ' Middle Passage '.

During this voyage, the slaves would be kept in the ship's hold, crammed close together with little or no space to move. Conditions were squalid and many people did not survive the voyage. On the final leg of the transatlantic route, European ships returned home with cargoes of sugar, rum, tobacco and other 'luxury' items.

His investigations took him to slaving ports such as Liverpool and Bristol. When he boarded the slave ship Fly , he recorded that 'The sight of the rooms below and of the gratings above filled me both with melancholy and horror.

I found soon afterwards a fire of indignation kindling within me…' To ensure that the lawmakers gained a strong and lasting impression of what he had experienced, Clarkson produced exact drawings and dimensions of the ship Brookes , prepared by Captain Parrey of the Royal Navy. The drawings showed men, women and children crammed together in chains below deck. Another assiduous campaigner was Granville Sharp.

On learning about the murders on the slave ship Zong in , Olaudah Equiano alerted Sharp, who began a campaign against Captain Luke Collingwood. Faced with a large number of deaths due to overcrowding, Collingwood had ordered that all sick Africans be thrown overboard.

The aim was to protect himself and the ship's owners - for if sick slaves died a natural death, the owners of the ship received no compensation. If, however, to safeguard the safety of the ship, those deemed chattels were thrown overboard while still alive, the insurers would pay out. Public meetings were held to enlist support, and local communities were encouraged to petition Parliament to demand change. Clarkson also told the public about the human cost to British families, given the heavy loss of British sailors on slaving voyages.

These losses, he argued, were clearly not in the national interest. John Newton, a former slave trader, lent his experience to the movement and later wrote the famous hymn 'Amazing Grace'.

Despite opposition from a variety of people with vested interests, the abolitionists and their supporters persisted. It became a pinnacle of resistance for enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and the Americas and was a turning point in the fight to abolish transatlantic slavery. This marks the proclamation of the first black state, Haiti — symbol of the struggle — and the triumph of the principles of liberty, equality, dignity and the rights of the individual. Entry to the National Maritime Museum is free, open daily from 10am.

Plan your visit. For further reading visit Understanding Slavery, a dedicated website to the history and legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. Shipping in the Pool of London, 18th century. Ignatius Sancho, Medal commemorating the abolition of the slave trade. Understand more about the history of slavery Hear stories told from diverse perspectives Shop. As we approach the bicentenary of the abolition of the Atlantic trade, Walvin has selected the historical texts that recreate the mindset that made such a savage institution possible - morally acceptable even Buy Now.

In this new edition, leading historian David Olusoga sets the book in its historical context helping us to understand this complex, spiritual, politically astute and deeply passionate man The British empire, in sentimental myth, was more free, more just and more fair than its rivals.

But this claim that the British empire was 'free' and that, for all its flaws, it promised liberty to all its subjects was never true Visit Us.

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