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Across the Atlantic World,
there were always individuals or groups who publicly expressed their
opposition to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. However, the most intense
opposition was by enslaved Africans themselves and their resistance,
together with abolitionists across Europe and the United States, was
eventually enough to bring the trade to an end. Acts of resistance
took place at every stage of African enslavement, from the struggles
in Africa at the Coast, to the rebellions during the Middle Passage
and the escapes or uprisings at the end of the voyage in the Americas
or the Caribbean. European opposition to slavery developed slowly,
the serious political campaign beginning in the late 1700s. For a
long time profitability of the trade outweighed moral considerations.
But eventually economics could no longer justify this inhuman trade,
African resistance was making it less profitable and so it was brought
to an end, at different times across Europe. So Europe’s opposition
and final passing of abolition laws was important, but only within
the context of a wider campaign against the trade.
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Revolt aboard slave ship
Toussaint L'Ouverture |
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