slave trade

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The transport of slaves from one country to work in another. British slaves were taken to Rome during the Roman occupation of Britain, and slaves from Ireland were imported to work in Bristol before the 11th century. The transportation of slaves from Africa to work in plantations in the New World began in the early 16th century. This stimulated a lucrative trade in slaves and the demand for slaves to work in the British plantations in the Americas led to the development of the Atlantic triangle trade. By the late 17th century, when sugar plantations in the West Indies had become profitable, much of the slave trade was being organized by the British.

From the late 17th century gradual opposition to the slave trade began in Britain. The Mansfield judgment of 1772 stated that a slave held on a ship on the Thames after escaping had become free on setting foot in Britain. The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787 with William Wilberforce as a leading member. After persistent campaigning by abolitionists, an act of Parliament in 1807 made it illegal for British ships to carry slaves and for the colonies of the British Empire to import them. Finally, the Abolition Act of 1833 provided for slaves in British colonies to be freed and for their owners to be compensated.

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