The History of Slavery

In this section, the speaker discusses the history of slavery and how it was a universal institution that existed long before Europeans got involved.

Slavery in Europe and America

• The Portuguese were the first to trade Africans in the 1440s, but slavery existed in Europe before that.

• Africans also traded other Africans as slaves to Romans, Muslim Arabs, and Amerindian people.

• Even former slaves owned slaves themselves. For example, on the eve of the American Civil War in 1860, there were 30,000 freed slaves in North Carolina who owned slaves.

Abolition of Slavery

• Britain was among the first states to abolish slavery and led the world in suppressing both slave trade and slavery from Brazil across Africa to Malaysia.

• Denmark was the first state in Europe to abolish slave trade within its limited territories.

• In recent years, Britain has been encouraged to look again at its involvement with slavery for 150-200 years as if nothing had changed.

• The British Empire abolished slavery as an institution within its territories in 1833.

Stopping Slave Ships

• In the 1820s and 30s, the Slavery Trade Department in the British Foreign Office was the largest unit.

• Thirteen percent of total manpower of their own Navy was devoted to stopping slave ships leaving West Africa for Americas.

Accepting Slavery's Existence

In this section, the speaker talks about how we need to accept that slavery was a fact of life for many people in the past and that owning other human beings as property began to be questioned on principle.

Accepting Slavery

• Even if you were in the 18th or 19th century, you might object to cruel and inhuman forms of slavery but still think that slavery was a fact of life.

• We need to accept that we couldn't undo what we've done for 200 years worth of enslaving all we could do was stop it and then try to stop it elsewhere.

Questioning Slavery

• The idea that owning other human beings as property began to be questioned on principle toward the end of the 18th century.

• The Society for the Abolition of Slavery was created in England in 1787 because of Enlightenment views and Christian views.

Extraordinary Abolition

In this section, the speaker talks about how Britain's abolition of slavery was extraordinary compared to other states at that time.

Britain's Abolition

• Britain led the world in suppressing both slave trade and slavery from Brazil across Africa to Malaysia.

• No other state had abolished slavery before Denmark did within its limited territories.

• Thirteen percent of total manpower of their own Navy was devoted to stopping slave ships leaving West Africa for Americas.