Why was Slavery finally abolished in the British Empire?: The Abolition of Slavery Project Why was Slavery finally abolished in the British Empire? Slavery Timeline Why was Slavery finally abolished in the British Empire? In July 1833, a Bill to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire passed in the House of Commons, followed by the House of Lords on 1st August. There has been a lot of debate over the factors that contributed to the final success of the bill: A change in economic interests. After 1776, when America became independent, Britain's sugar colonies, such as Jamaica and Barbados, declined as America could trade directly with the French and Dutch in the West Indies. Furthermore, as the industrial revolution took hold in the 18th century, Britain no longer needed slave-based goods. The country was more able to prosper from new systems which required high efficiency, through free trade and free labour. Cotton, rather than sugar, became the main produce of the British economy and English towns, such as Manchester and Salford, became industrial centres of world importance. Resistance by enslaved people. Enslaved people had resisted the trade since it began.

However, the French Revolution brought ideas of liberty and equality, which inspired those seeking an end to slavery (for example, Toussaint L'Ouverture who led a successful slave revolt in Haiti). Major slave revolts followed ( Barbados 1816, Demerara 1822 and Jamaica 1831-1832); they reduced profitability and gave a strong indication that, regardless of politicial opinion, the enslaved people were not going to tolerate enslavement. The revolts shocked the British government and made them see that the costs and dangers of keeping slavery in the West Indies were too high. In places like Jamaica, many terrified plantation owners were finally ready to accept abolition rather than risk a widespread war. Parliamentary reform. When parliament was finally reformed in 1832, two-thirds of those who supported slavery were swept from power. The once powerful West India Lobby had lost its political strength. Abolition campaigns and religious groups. The demand for freedom for enslaved people had become almost universal. It was now driven forward, not only by the formal abolition campaign but by a coalition of non-conformist churches as well as Evangelicals in the Church of England.

The act, however, did not free enslaved people immediately; they were to become "apprentices" for 6 years. Compensation of 20 million was to be paid to the planters. Protests finally forced the government to abolish the apprenticeship system on 1st August, 1838. Modern History/The abolition of slavery - Wikibooks, open books for an open world Modern History/The abolition of slavery From Wikibooks, open books for an open world Jump to: navigation , search Timeline for the Abolition of Slavery[ edit ] 1542 Native slaves freed and native slavery abolished in all Spanish American colonies by Emperor Charles I of Spain under the New Laws of Indies, declaring all "Indians" free citizens of the Spanish Empire. 1772 Slavery declared illegal in England. Lord Chief Justice Mansfield rules that English law does not support slavery 1777 Slavery abolished in Vermont, USA 1778 Slavery Illegal in Scotland 1783 Massachusetts declares slavery illegal 1792 Slave trading abolished in Denmark (though slavery continues to 1847).

1787 Sierra Leone founded by British as state for emancipated slaves 1788 Bill regulating the conditions on slave ships enacted 1791 Haiti gains independence and emancipation 1799 New York State introduces gradual emancipation 1802 Danish abolish slave trade in Danish colonies 1807 Slave trading abolished in British Empire. Captains fined £100 per slave transported. 1807 British begin patrols of African coast to arrest slaving vessels. 1807 Abolition in Prussia (Germany) The Stein-Hardenberg Reforms. 1808 USA abolishes transatlantic slave trade 1811 Slave trading made a felony in the British Empire punishable by transportation for British subjects and Foreigners. 1811 Spain abolishes slavery of African slaves at home and in all colonies except Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo 1814 Dutch outlaw slave trade 1815 British pay Portuguese £750,000 to cease their trade 1817 Spain paid £400,000 by British to cease trade to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo 1815 Congress of Vienna.

8 Victorious powers declared their opposition to slavery 1818 France and Holland abolish slave trading 1821 Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela abolish slavery 1821 Liberia founded by USA as state for emancipated slaves. 1823 Chile abolishes slavery 1829 Mexico abolishes slavery 1833 Slavery abolished throughout the British empire (about a third of world's population)(Bill for "Total Abolition of Colonial Slavery") 1843 Sweden abolishes slavery BBC - Liverpool Local History - American Connections - Slavery Timeline Image taken in the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at The Maritime Musuem, Liverpool.

© National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside 1761 Slavery abolished in mainland Portugal 1787 Foundation of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade 1794 Slavery abolished in French Colonies 1802 Slavery reintroduced in French Colonies 1803 Slave trading abolished in Denmark 1807 Slave trading abolished by Britain and United States 1811 Slavery abolished in Spain and Spanish Colonies (violently opposed in Cuba and unenforced) 1813 Slave trading abolished by Sweden 1814 Slave trading abolished by The Netherlands 1817 Slave trading abolished by France (not effective until 1826) 1819 Slave trading abolished north of the equator by Portugal 1820 Slave trading abolished by Spain 1834 Slavery abolished in British Colonies (but slaves apprenticed until 1838) 1842 Abolition Timeline Abolition Timeline 1761 - Portugal (on the mainland) 1772 - Great Britain (14,000 slaves freed on the mainland) 1777

 - Vermont (gradual) 1784 - All the New England states (gradual) 1788 - Denmark (frees the serfs) 1792 - France (although reinstated & abolished several times until 1848) 1794 - Haiti 1824 - Spain (after an apprenticeship) 1825 - Chili 1833 - The entire British Empire (after an apprenticeship) 1834 -South Africa 1846 - Danish West Indies ( now Virgin Islands) 1848 -Final abolition in France 1854 - Venezuela & Peru 1860 - Russia (frees the serfs) 1863 - Netherlands 1875 - Portugal (in their colonies) 1886 - Cuba 1888 - Brazil, the last nation in the western hemisphere * Abolition did not mean that states/nations stopped participating in the slave trade where it was legal.

In fact, New England companies were major actors in this trade. Selected Anti-slavery Activities 1732 - The Bretheren, a German Evangelical Christian sect, calls for an end to slavery 1734 - Marie-Joseph Angelique, a Black slave in New France, set fire to her owner's house to cover her attempt to escape slavery. The fire spread and destroyed 46 homes. She was caught, tortured and hanged.* 1760 - Major slave uprising in Jamaica 1766 - Anthony Benezet, a French colonist in Philadelphia, publishes an anti-slavery book. 1769 - Thomas Jefferson introduces a bill in the Virginia House of Burgesses to grant freedom to slaves. 1775 - First US abolitionist society formed (PA) 1776 - First draft of the Declaration of Independence challenges slavery on moral grounds (later stricken). 1775 to 1783 - Tens of thousands of African Americans fight on both sides for their freedom 1788 - Gustavus Vassa (Olaudah Equiano) moves from the US to England and becomes a prominent abolitionist.

1794- 1804 - Haitian Revolution creates the first black republic 1799 - George Washington frees his slaves in his will 1808 - Slave trade abolished in US and Britain 1810 - Jeffrey Brace (former slave) publishes his autobiography in Georgia, VT as a protest against slavery 1816 - Prince Sauders (former VT indentured servant) publishes the "Haytian Papers" as an answer to prejudice against blacks 1822 - Denmark Vesey slave rebellion in So. Carolina; Republic of Liberia established for freed slaves 1831 - Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Virginia * Enslaved people were daily protesting their status by resisting white demands, escaping, poisoning their masters, etc. This is one example. Resources 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act After the passing of Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807, British captains who were caught continuing the trade were fined £100 for every slave found on board.

However, this law did not stop the British slave trade. If slave-ships were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains often reduced the fines they had to pay by ordering the slaves to be thrown into the sea. Some people involved in the anti-slave trade campaign argued that the only way to end the suffering of the slaves was to make slavery illegal. A new Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1823. Members included Thomas Clarkson , Henry Brougham , William Wilberforce , Thomas Fowell Buxton , Elizabeth Heyrick , Mary Lloyd , Jane Smeal , Elizabeth Pease and Anne Knight ). Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. This act gave all slaves in the British Empire their freedom. The British government paid compensation to the slave owners. The amount that the plantation owners received depended on the number of slaves that they had. For example, the Bishop of Exeter's 665 slaves resulted in him receiving £12,700.

Slavery Events in History - BrainyHistory Slavery Events in History 1995 Event - Mississippi House of Representatives formally abolishes slavery and ratifies 13th Amendment 1962 Event - Saudi Arabia proclaims abolishing slavery 1932 Event - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery 1929 Event - U.S.

worker union commission reports of slavery in Liberia 1926 Event - International slavery convention signed by 20 states 1910 Event - China ends slavery 1904 Event - German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children 1892 Birthday - Charles L Bass, actor, Business in White Slavery 1890 Event - Pope Leo XIII encyclical On slavery in missions 1888 Event - Princess Isabel of Brazil signs "Lei Aurea" abolishing slavery 1886 Event - Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba 1883 Event - Slavery banned throughout British Empire 1873 Event - Slavery abolished in Puerto Rico 1873 Event - Slavery is abolished in Puerto Rico 1865 Event - 13th Amendment ratified, slavery abolished 1865 Event - 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery 1865 Event - Tennessee adopts a new constitution abolishing slavery 1865 Event - Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (121-24) 1864 Event - Maryland voters adopt new constitution, including abolition of slavery 18

64 Event - Slavery abolished in Maryland 1863 Event - Slavery abolished in Suriname and Netherlands Antilles 1863 Event - President Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate states unlawful 1862 Event - Slavery outlawed in U.S.

territories 1862 Event - Slavery abolished in all U.S. possessions 1862 Event - Slavery abolished in District of Columbia 1861 Event - West Virginia created as a result of dispute over slavery with Virg 1861 Event - Washington D.C. - Crittenden resolution is passed stating that the war is to be fought to preserve union and uphold the Constitution, not to alter slavery 1861 Event - U.S. House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state 1860 Event - Dem convention in Charleston South Carolina divided over slavery 1860 Event - Slavery ends of in Netherlands Indies 1859 Event - Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery 1856 Event - Senator Charles Sumner, Massachusetts, spoke out against slavery 1855 Event - U.S. adventurer Wm Walker conquers Nicaragua, reestablishes slavery 1850 Event - Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue 1850 Event - Henry Clay introduces a comprise bill on slavery to U.S.

Senate 1849 Event - Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland 1848 Event - William and Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia 1848 Event - Slavery abolished in all French territories 1848 Event - Otto Tank ends slavery in Suriname colony 1838 Event - Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery disguised as a sailor 1836 Event - Texas abolishes slavery 1834 Event - Slavery abolished through out the British Empire 1833 Event - Britain abolishes slavery in colonies; 700,000 slaves freed 1831 Event - Former slave Nat Turner leads uprising against slavery 1827 Event - Slavery abolished in NY 1820 Event - Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri 1804 Birthday - Victor Schoelcher, Guadeloupe, abolished french slavery 1804 Event - New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery 1802 Event - Napoleon orders re-instatement of slavery on St.

Domingue (Haiti) 1799 Event - New York State abolished slavery 1794 Event - French National Convention proclaims abolishment of slavery 1790 Event - Society of Friends petitions Congress for abolition of slavery 1787 Event - Congress establishes Northwest Territory (excludes slavery) 1780 Event - Pennsylvania becomes 1st U.S.

state to abolish slavery (for new-borns only) 1777 Event - Vermont becomes 1st state abolishing slavery, adopts male suffrage 1777 Event - Vermont becomes 1st American colony to abolish slavery 1772 Event - Slavery outlawed in England 1759 Birthday - Wilbur Wilberforce, England, crusaded against slavery 1749 Event - Georgia Colony reverses itself and rules slavery is legal 1746 Birthday - Absalom Jones, Delaware, born into slavery 1688 Event - Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pennsylvania 1669 Event - 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection and sentenced to flogging, branding and slavery 1652 Event - Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal 1641 Event - Mass becomes 1st colony to give statutory recognition to slavery 1542 Event - Spain delegates "New Laws" against slavery in America 1391 Event - Mob led by Ferrand Martinez surounds and sets fire to Jewish quarter of Seville Spain, surviving Jews sold into slavery 69

4 Event - Spanish King Egica accuses Jews of aiding Moslems/sentenced to slavery Britain, slavery and the trade in enslaved Africans, by Marika Sherwood Tobacco paper, Virginia, 17th century Courtesy, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia; image C1980-866.

Britain, slavery and the trade in enslaved Africans Marika Sherwood British slaves British involvement in slavery is over 2,000 years old, but not in what is now the accepted perspective. Cicero noted in about 54 BC that the 'British' enslaved by Julius Caesar 'were too ignorant to fetch fancy prices in the market'. The enslavement of the people of this outpost of the Roman Empire continued for hundreds of years as we know that Pope Gregory spoke with some British slaves in the slave market in Rome in the seventh century AD. ( 1 ) Domestic slavery – usually called 'serfdom' – also existed in Britain: serfs were bought and sold with the estate on which they had to work for a fixed number of days a year without payment; they could only marry with their lord's consent, could not leave the estate and had few legal rights. However, as they could not be easily replaced, they were not as physically abused as enslaved Africans a few centuries later. The institution of serfdom was not abolished in Britain until 1381. ( 2 ) Britons were also enslaved by the Barbary pirates.

The cross-Mediterranean trade was subject to piracy and privateering (piracy licensed by ruling monarchs) by many of the coastal seafarers. Some of the British enslaved by the north Africans (the 'Barbary' coast) were used as galley slaves; others fulfilled the usual tasks allotted to slaves; those who converted to Islam had an easier time. The men seized by the British from Barbary vessels were either sold as slaves or executed as pirates. ( 3 ) The enslaved/imprisoned could be ransomed: Queen Elizabeth I, for example, attempted to have the 'Negroes' resident in Britain volunteer to hand themselves over to a trader named Caspar Van Senden. This Lubeck trader had told the Queen that he could sell them as slaves in Spain and Portugal, which would enable her to repay his expenses in ransoming and returning to England some English prisoners held there. It seems that neither free Africans nor the owners of any enslaved Africans in Britain were prepared to obey the Queen's proclamation, as she had to issue it a number of times. ( 4 ) Slave trading from north and east Africa The enslaving of Africans was of long standing.

Arab and then Muslim slave traders had been marching Africans, or sailing them across the Red Sea and then the Indian Ocean, from about the sixth century AD. It is probable that at least as many women as men were taken: the women were used as domestic labour and as concubines in the harems of the rich; men were also domestics, but most were destined for the military. When some were used – and abused – as plantation labour in the area we now call Iraq, they eventually revolted and were not again used for such labour. The Africans were not seen as non-human objects, had rights and could rise in the ranks of the army and the society. In most Arab societies they could also intermarry and the resulting children were not slaves. ( 5 ) Slavery in Muslim societies was not racial – the Turks enslaved my Hungarian ancestors while they ruled Hungary from the sixteenth century. ( 6 ) There was also an export of east Africans to India and the intermediate islands. ( 7 ) The conditions of slavery in India were similar to those in the Muslim world, more akin to serfdom in medieval Europe than to the conditions imposed upon enslaved Africans in the Americas.

Slave trading from west Africa ( 8 ) Why were Europeans enslaving Africans? Because they needed labourers to work for them in this world new to Europe – the Americas. In the process of conquest they had annihilated many of the native peoples; those who survived the Europeans' guns and diseases not unnaturally refused to work in the mines taken over by their conquerors, or on the plantations they created. The Europeans tried two solutions: export prisoners, and export men who indentured themselves to pay off debts. But both groups either succumbed to diseases new to them, or ran away to freedom. So another solution was sought. Africans did not have guns either, so why not enslave and transport them? Europeans could not send armies to conquer Africans or to kidnap them. They had to make their purchases from the local kings and chiefs. ( 9 ) The traders found all conceivable means to foster warfare, as Africans were usually only willing to sell prisoners-of-war. The enticement of European goods – especially guns and ammunition – also eventually resulted in kidnapping gangs raiding neighbouring peoples. ( 10 ) Those caught or taken prisoner had to be marched to the coast to await purchase.

How many were killed during the raids, wars and marches is unknown. Could it be as many as were eventually transported? The number transported is estimated to be between 12 and 20 million. ( 11 ) (It must be noted here that the African sellers had no notion of the monstrous forms of slavery that were practised by Europeans in their colonies.) Africans, of course, both resisted kidnapping and fought back against those who wanted to capture them in wars. But without guns they had little hope. And the further you lived from the coast, the less likely was it that you had access to guns. ( 12 ) The devastation wrought by the constant warfare and kidnappings, and the export for hundreds of years of millions of the most able-bodied and vigorous of the population, naturally had a long-lasting effect – still there today.( 13 ) (One of the issues that has not been researched is why so much rum and other hard spirits were sold by the Europeans. Is it possible that Africans, like some native north Americans, have no resistance to such liquor and become very quickly addicted?

After all, Africans had their own liquors.) There was simultaneous slave raiding and slave trading by African Muslims and Arabs, for export to the north and the east. As Muslims were enjoined by the Koran not to enslave each other, Muslim slavery was not based on skin colour, but on religion. ( 14 ) Britain, the 'nefarious trade' and slavery Britain followed in the footsteps of the Portuguese in voyaging to the west coast of Africa and enslaving Africans. The British participation in what has come to be called the 'nefarious trade' was begun by Sir John Hawkins with the support and investment of Elizabeth I in 1573. ( 15 ) By fair means and foul, Britain outwitted its European rivals and became the premier trader in the enslaved from the seventeenth century onwards, and retained this position till 1807. Britain supplied enslaved African women, men and children to all European colonies in the Americas. The 'Slave Coast' came to be dotted with European forts, their massive guns facing out to sea to warn off rival European slave traders.

Each 'castle' incorporated prisons or 'barracoons' in which the enslaved women, children and men were kept, awaiting purchase by the traders, who could initially only reach the coast at those times of the year when the winds blew in the right direction. The prisons – without sanitation, with little air – must have been hell-holes in the humid coastal climates. The death rates are not known. The trade became a very lucrative business. Bristol grew rich on it, then Liverpool. London also dealt in slaves as did some of the smaller British ports. ( 16 ) The specialised vessels were built in many British shipyards, but most were constructed in Liverpool. Laden with trade goods (guns and ammunition, rum, metal goods and cloth) they sailed to the 'Slave Coast', exchanged the goods for human beings, packed them into the vessels like sardines and sailed them across the Atlantic. On arrival, those left alive were oiled to make them look healthy and put on the auction block. Again, death rates (during the voyage) are unknown: one estimate, for the 1840s, is 25 per cent.

Plantation and mine-owners bought the Africans – and more died in the process called 'seasoning'. In the British colonies the slaves were treated as non-human: they were 'chattels', to be worked to death as it was cheaper to purchase another slave than to keep one alive. Though seen as non-human, as many of the enslaved women were raped, clearly at one level they were recognised as at least rapeable human beings. There was no opprobrium attached to rape, torture, or to beating your slaves to death. The enslaved in the British colonies had no legal rights as they were not human – they were not permitted to marry and couples and their children were often sold off separately. Historian Paul Lovejoy has estimated that between 1701 and 1800 about 40 per cent of the approximately more than 6 million enslaved Africans were transported in British vessels. (It must be noted that this figure is believed by some to be a considerable underestimate.) Lovejoy estimated that well over 2 million more were exported between 1811 and 1867 – again, many believe the numbers were much greater.

( 17 ) Abolition of the trade by Britain Europeans who were Roman Catholics often treated their slaves more humanely than those of the Protestant faith, perhaps especially the members of the Church of England, which owned slaves in the West Indies. (Roman Catholics did not deny Africans their humanity and made attempts at conversion, while British slaveowners forbade church attendance.) The enslavement of Africans was justified in Britain by claiming that they were barbaric savages, without laws or religions, and, according to some 'observers' and academics, without even a language; they would acquire civilisation on the plantations. In the 1770s, some Christians in Britain began to question this interpretation of the Bible. They began a campaign to convert the population to their perspective and to influence Parliament by forming anti-slavery associations. Slavery was declared a sin. According to some interpreters of William Wilberforce, the main abolitionist spokesperson in Parliament, it was this fear of not going to heaven that impelled him to carry on the abolitionist struggle for over 20 years.

( 18 ) Parliamentarians and others who could read, or had the time to attend meetings, were well informed about slavery by the books published by two ex-slaves, Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano; slightly less dramatic and emphatic anti-slavery books were published by Ignatius Sancho and Ukwasaw Groniosaw. Equiano, like Thomas Clarkson (another truly remarkable man), lectured up and down the country, and in Ireland. ( 19 ) The Act making it illegal for Britons to participate in the trade in enslaved Africans was passed by Parliament in March 1807, after some 20 years of campaigning. Precisely why so many people signed petitions and why Parliament voted for the Act is debatable. ( 20 ) It is somewhat curious that many of the chief – including Quaker – abolitionists were importers of slave-grown produce. ( 21 ) Slave emancipation by Britain A few Britons – including the British Africans – were not content with abolition and campaigned for the emancipation of slaves. This was another long struggle.

Among the most forceful were the women abolitionists, who, being denied a voice by the men, formed their own organisations and went door-knocking, asking people to stop using slave-grown products such as sugar and tobacco. The most outspoken was probably Elizabeth Heyrick who believed in immediate emancipation, as opposed to the men who supported gradual freedom. ( 22 ) This battle was won when Parliament passed the Emancipation Act in 1833; as the struggle was led by men, it was for gradual emancipation. But protests, often violent in the West Indies, resulted in freedom in 1838. The slaveowners were granted ï¿½20 million (about ï¿½1 billion today) compensation; all the freed received was the opportunity to labour for the paltry wages that had now to be offered. This Act only freed the enslaved in the West Indies, Cape Town, Mauritius and Canada. Slavery continued in the rest of the British Empire. Even the importation of slaves into a British colony continued – into Mauritius, obtained from the French after the Napoleonic Wars, where importation was not stopped until about 1820.

( 23 ) Emancipation in Britain Africans have lived in Britain since they arrived as troops within the Roman armies. How many came here in more modern times, i.e., since the fifteenth century, has not been researched. They begin to appear in parish records of births and deaths from the sixteenth century. ( 24 ) Again, what proportion was free and how many were slaves is not yet known. The famous decision by Chief Justice Lord Mansfield in 1772 in the case of James Somerset, taken to court by activist Granville Sharp, merely stated that Africans could not be exported from the UK to the West Indies as slaves. There was no consistency in the many court judgements on the legality of slavery in Great Britain. ( 25 ) The efficacy of the Acts As there was almost nothing done to ensure that the Acts were obeyed, slave traders continued their activities, as did the shipbuilders. Information about this was sent to Parliament by the abolitionists, some of the captains in the Anti-Slavery Squadrons and British consular officials in slave-worked Cuba and Brazil.

Investigations were held, more Acts were passed, but all to no avail, as no means of enforcement was put in place in Britain. All the government did was to set up the Anti-Slavery Squadron – at first comprised of old, semi-derelict naval vessels, unfit for the coastal conditions. To enable them to stop slavers of other nationalities, Britain entered into treaties with other slaving countries. But these were also ignored. The slave trade continued, unabated. Britain not only continued to build slaving vessels, but it financed the trade, insured it, crewed some of it and probably even created the many national flags carried by the vessels to avoid condemnation. Britain also manufactured about 80 per cent of the goods traded for slaves on the Coast. ( 26 ) The Squadron did capture some slaving vessels. These were taken to the courts set up in Sierra Leone (and even more ineffectually in the Americas). If the ship was condemned, the Africans on board were freed and settled in Freetown, a British colony. The ship's crew were given prize money.

When Freetown grew too crowded, some of these 'Liberated Africans' were dispatched to the Caribbean as 'apprentices'; others were induced to enter the military. Their fate in the Caribbean and in the Seychelles, and whether any were sent to Cuba or Brazil, has not yet been fully researched. ( 27 ) It was no more difficult to evade the Acts making it illegal for Britons to hold slaves than it was to circumvent the Abolition Act. In India where, according to Sir Bartle Frere (who sat on the Viceroy's Council), there were about 9 million slaves in 1841, slavery was not outlawed till 1868. ( 28 ) In other British colonies emancipation was not granted until almost 100 years after the 1833 Emancipation Act: Malaya in 1915; Burma in 1926; Sierra Leone in 1927. The final slave emancipation colonial ordinance I have found is in the Gold Coast archives, and is dated 1928.

Britons owned slave-worked mines and plantations and invested in countries which were dependent on slave labour until the 1880s when slavery was finally abolished in the Americas. In fact, the role of slavery in Britain's wealth did not diminish. Vast amounts of slave-grown tobacco were imported from the southern states in the USA, and then from Cuba and Brazil. When the amount of sugar now grown by free labour in the Caribbean colonies did not satisfy British consumers, slave-grown sugar was imported. Despite campaigns pointing out that this would increase the trade in slaves, the import duty on free-grown and slave-grown sugar was equalised in 1848. Much of the imported sugar was exported, earning Britain even more money. Cotton manufacturing consumed and enriched Lancashire, including the port of Liverpool. Over 80 per cent of the cotton imported was slave-grown. It is probable that about 20 per cent of the British labour force was one way or another involved in the importation and manufacturing and then the export of cotton cloth. Bankers, manufacturers, shippers, traders, weavers, printers, dyers, shipbuilders and many others earned a living or made a fortune from cotton.

( 29 ) There were very few protests about the importation of slave-grown cotton, compared with the protests about sugar. Clearly, it was more important economically to the wealth of the UK. Britain, partly due to its new-found wealth, also needed some African products: this 'legitimate' trade, producing coffee, cocoa, gold, some minerals and palm oil (for greasing new machines and washing dirty people – think of 'Palmolive' soap), was usually supported by various forms of domestic slavery or serfdom. Naturally the European export firms wanted the cheapest possible product! Once colonial administrations were established, labour was needed to construct roads to improve the transport of these products – this was almost invariably what was euphemistically called 'contract' or 'forced' labour, i.e., temporary enslavement. Britain was among those who signed the League of Nations' Forced Labour Convention, but, as one author noted, 'most of the colonising Powers have been more or less guided [by the Convention]... and have at least taken note of that body's resolution that natives must not be driven to work fo the private profit of others' (my emphasis).

( 30 ) Support for slavery was also demonstrated during the American Civil War in the 1860s. Some Britons ignored the declared neutrality of the UK and raised millions of pounds to support the pro-slavery Confederates. Many ships, both merchant and war, were built for them with total impunity, despite the official neutrality, which made supporting either side illegal. The after-effects of the slave trade a) The creation of new societies in the Americas. b) The emigration of Caribbeans of African descent, as there were no real means of economic survival, to the south American mainland, to build the Panama Canal, to the USA, to Britain. c) The devastation of villages/towns/peoples in Africa through the European-fostered wars. d) The destruction of much indigenous manufacturing in Africa. ( 31 ) e) The displacement of many Africans in west and east Africa during the period of the trade in slaves - within Africa and around the world. f) The division of Africa between the European powers at the Berlin Conference in 1885, ignoring previous historical boundaries, language groups, kingdoms – the after-affects are there today, as are those of (c) and (e).

g) The spread of racist ideology to justify the enslavement of Africans. In slightly diluted forms this is with us today, perhaps most perniciously in the total absence of African history from our school curricula. Notes: Slavery - The National Archives Slavery Slave sale, Charleston, South Carolina, 1856 (ZPER 34/29 (555)) External links As soon as Europeans began to settle in America, in the early 16th century, they imported enslaved Africans to work for them. As European settlement grew, so did the demand for enslaved people. Over the next 300 years more than 11 million enslaved people were transported across the Atlantic from Africa to America and the West Indies, and Britain led this trade from the mid-17th century onwards. Ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow sent out many slaving ships each year, bringing great prosperity to their owners. Many other cities also grew rich on the profits of industries which depended on slave-produced materials such as cotton, sugar and tobacco. The campaign in Britain to abolish slavery began in the 1760s, supported by both black and white abolitionists.

The battle was long and hard-fought, with pro-slavery campaigners arguing that the slave trade was important for the British economy and claiming that enslaved Africans were happy and well-treated. However the frequent rebellions by enslaved Africans and evidence of the appalling conditions endured by them during and after transportation led to growing support for the demands to abolish the slave trade. Eventually, in 1807, Parliament passed an Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which abolished the trade by Britain in enslaved peoples between Africa, the West Indies and America. The pro-slavery campaigners had argued that with no new enslaved Africans being traded slave-owners would treat their existing slaves better. However, it was clear that enslaved people were still harshly treated and many continued to resist and rebel against their enslavement. In 1833 Parliament passed a further act to abolish slavery in the British West Indies, Canada and the Cape of Good Hope (southern Africa), meaning that it was now illegal to buy or own a person. However, slavery continued in other areas of the British Empire including the territories run by the East India Company, Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) and St Helena.

Between 1808 and 1869 the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron seized over 1,600 slave ships and freed about 150,000 Africans but, despite this, it is estimated that a further 1 million people were enslaved and transported throughout the 19th Century. Tasks Background Racism Enslavement is both a result and a cause of racism. A belief that certain people were racially inferior allowed Europeans to set up the trade in African enslaved people in the 1520s. It encouraged whites to believe that the cruelty of the capture of enslaved people, the inhuman conditions on the slave-ships and the incredibly harsh treatment the enslaved received in the Americas were somehow justified. Source 2 is just another example of this. Enslavement has also caused racism by setting up a stereotype of black people as victims in the past. The triangular trade The British trade in enslaved people was a three-legged voyage: from British ports to West Africa, where enslaved people were bought with guns and other British-manufactured articles. Then came the dreaded ‘middle passage’ to the Americas, with as many enslaved people as possible were crammed below decks.

The enslaved were then sold in the southern USA, the Caribbean Islands and South America, where they were used to work the plantations. Plantations were farms growing only crops that Europe wanted: tobacco, sugar, cotton. The merchant ships would load up with these products and take them back to Britain on the last leg of their journey. Profits from this trade made merchants rich as well as providing the capital (money) for many of the enterprises of the early Industrial Revolution. Plantation life The enslaved people were worked in gangs, made up of both men and women, driven on by the whip of the overseer. They worked for ten to twelve hours a day in the tropical sun, for six days a week. Other enslaved people worked as craftspeople, or servants. The fact that they could be bought or sold away from the plantation at any time made it very difficult to maintain normal family life. Some of the ‘runaways’ listed in Source 1 may well have just been trying to visit friends or relations who had been sold to another plantation. African songs, games, stories and religion helped to maintain the enslaveds’ belief in themselves.

From the 17th century, gangs of runaways -called ‘Maroons’ in Jamaica – set up independent, permanent communities which resisted all efforts of the white owners and soldiers to crush them. Sometimes this broke out into open conflict, such as the Maroon Wars of 1730-1740 and 1795-6. There were also slave revolts, in Antigua in 1735, Tacky’s revolt in Jamaica in 1760, Kofi’s revolt in Guyana in 1763, in Granada in 1795-7, and so on. Abolition The case against enslavement had several arguments: the moral argument: enslavement is wicked, un-Christian the economic argument: enslavement is expensive and inefficient the legal argument: enslavement is illegal under British law problems in the plantations: enslaved people continued to resist enslavement and would not be suppressed The campaign to abolish enslavement was the first popular peaceful mass protest movement of modern times.

Leading white abolitionists were Granville Sharpe, who helped black people fight test cases in the courts; Thomas Clarkson, who collected evidence of the cruelty of the enslavement trade from all over Britain; and William Wilberforce, who fought for legislation in Parliament. They worked with black abolitionist campaigners, such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cuguano. Mary Prince, who had been enslaved for part of her life, wrote an important book about her experiences which helped to influence the eventual abolition of enslavement in 1833. Clearly, the campaign to abolish enslavement did not end in 1833. Plantation owners still used forced labour in the form of indentured workers (a worker who works for a fixed term for their transportation, board and lodgings) particularly on tobacco plantations. Being an indentured worker meant, in theory, that you should be treated fairly and that although you weren’t paid for your labour, you would be given proper food and somewhere to stay. In actual fact, indentured workers were often treated no better than enslaved workers, with beatings, and even death, a common factor. Enslavement goes on today.

Look at the links on the right to find out about enslavement in the 21st century and its abolition. Teachers' notes This lesson offers graphic evidence of the cruelty on which enslavement was based. The Court Records from Dominica reveal all kinds of details about the way enslaved African society worked. Most of all, however, it shows the punishments meted out to enslaved people, in all its brutality. From this point the whole story of enslavement – why the enslaved were there, who ran the plantations, why they ran away – can be explored. It is also an important piece of evidence of the reasons why the abolition campaign proceeded beyond 1807 to full abolition of the institution of enslavement in 1833. The story of enslavement often ends in 1833. But that was not the end of enslavement, even in the Americas. It was not abolished in the USA until 1863, after a bloody Civil War had been fought over the issue. It was not abolished in Brazil until 1888. Britain’s high moral line about enslavement after 1833 is not often dealt with.

Sources 2a, b and c reveal just how much effort Britain put into its anti-enslavement activities in several parts of the world right through the 19th century. Sources Illustration ZPER 34/29 – an illustration from the Illustrated London News showing a slave sale in South Carolina around 1856 Source 1 CO 71/51 – these are extracts from the court records for Dominica showing punishments for enslaved Africans Sources 2 a, b, c FO 84/1310 – these photographs are a set showing East African enslaved people rescued by the British naval ship, HMS Daphne. HMS Daphne was often used to rescue enslaved people from slave runners after the 1833 abolition of slavery by Great Britain. Enslaved people who were rescued were often taken to a nearby island where they would then set up new colonies. External links

Question: What was abolished in the British Empire in 1833, the French Colonies in 1848, and the USA in 1865?
Answer: Slavery