The British slave trade peaked in 1782 when approximately 100,000 African slaves were being transported annually in British ships, mostly to the West Indies and the American south. Fashioned around the "Triangle Trade", slave ships departed from England carrying manufactured goods for trade in Africa slaves, transported the slaves in trade for raw goods such as sugar, cotton, indigo and tobacco which were, in turn, transported and traded in England for manufactured goods, completing the triangle. In total, an estimated 12,000,000 slaves were brought to the Americas from Africa.

The trade in slaves was fueled in the Americas by the growing of sugar cane and tobacco, and the invention of the cotton gin in the late 18th century. In the west Indies vast fortunes were made on sugar, a coarse growing member of the grass family that is extremely sensitive to cold, and thus ideally suited for the tropics.

The British outlawed slavery in the colonies and possessions in 1833. The United States forbid importation of slaves into states outlawing the practice beginning in 1802, though the last recorded slave shipped disembarked at Mobile Bay in 1859, on the eve of the Civil War. Slavery was ultimately abolished in the United States with the end of the Civil War in 1865.

More on the slave trade

Slave Narratives
Slave, Sugar Plantation, Santo Domingo, 1840s (present day Dominican Republic)
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