Slave Trade In The 1800s

Britain had become the largest exporter of African slaves to the Americas by the 18th century. By the start of the 19th century more than half of the slaves taken from the West Coast of Africa had been transported across the Atlantic Ocean by British ships. Although Britain was one of the key investors in the slave institution it became the first major European country to leave the trans- Atlantic slave trade and make it illegal in 1807. The discovery of the Americas at the end of the 15th century opened up new economic incentives that led to the greatest transportation of human capital in the form of slaves. From about 1500 to the end of the 1800’s millions of slaves from Africa were taken to the Americas. Britain started the process of
Slavery had been a profitable and productive institution with the benefit of very cheap labor up until this point. Planation owners only had to supply the basic means of living to the slave after purchasing them. Plantation drivers could then work the slaves at very inhumane levels, which created high production and efficiency out in the fields. This type of labor changed when the Industrial Revolution caused a transition to new manufacturing processes and the opening of different economic markets in the period from 1760 to 1870. During this period Europe saw the emergence of new technology, living standards, and work environments. In addition the Industrial Revolution started an era of per capita economic growth in capitalist economies with free labor. The industrial revolution in Britain brought a new demand for efficiency, free labor, and free trade all of which went against the process of slavery. The Industrial Revolution affected the various economic markets, such as that for trade and labor, and in addition showed wealthy investors and business owners that there was more to just slave labor that had become increasingly more costly and less
With America’s independence in 1776 it meant that Britain had lost its main source of provisions and a valuable revenue market. America’s independence also meant that the United States could legally trade with other nations such as France. In order to regain the dominance that Britain had lost it needed to find a new labor force to manufacture the goods they had once sold in the European market. The British government found this new source of labor in its growing population. As seen in figure 1 the population in England grew by 11,173,688 between the years 1801 to 1851. Within those 50 years the population had more than doubled and many of these individuals were looking for available work opportunities. The population increase allowed Britain to move away from the slave labor it had previously used for the last 300