Anniversary of the Ending of the Slave Trade in the British Empire 25th March 1807

Happy 219th anniversary of the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire 1807 (yesterday). Lead directly to the eventual abolition of Slave Trading in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and to a great extent the Indian Ocean when British ships started hunting down foreign slave ships from1810, as well as the freeing of Slaves in the British Empire some 27 years later in 1834.

Of course most African states at the time continued exporting slaves, and North and South American Nations, the Ottoman Empire and all other Moslem Nations, as well as China continued with massive numbers of Slaves being traded. But Great Britain’s stance and subsequent Naval and Military actions substantially broke the back of maritime Slave Trade around the World.

Great Britain was the first major World Power to institute and enforce such a ban. Denmark and Norway had brought in their own ban a few years before in 1804, but this only really reflected a small Danish holding in the Caribbean. The USA Technically implemented a ban on 1st January 1808, but because of the reliance of the Southern States on slavery, and the huge profits generated by the importation of slaves, it was not entirely rigorously implemented.