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Essay On The Triangular Trade

Decent Essays

The Atlantic slave trade was a historical period that started in the 15th century and the slave trade was abolished in the year 1807. The nature of the Atlantic slave trade could be described as brutal because of the conditions that the captured Africans were forced to endure both during the journey from Africa to the Americas and their time on the plantations. During the journey from Africa to the Americas the captured Africans were put into the ship’s hold and kept on small shelves with no ventilation or anywhere to defecate.
The triangular trade was a key part of the Atlantic slave trade as it was the main process used to trade for Africans and for trading Africans. The triangular trade started in Europe and went to Africa to trade manufactured goods such as: pots, guns and fabric. The traders would then take the traded Africans to the Americas to be traded in exchange for products such as: sugar, cotton and tobacco. The journey would end in Europe then the same cycle would be repeated many times over.
The abolition of the slave trade in Britain was a process that took several years to be a success because of the strong opposition from the MPs and others who were benefitting off the slave trade. The main reason for most of the opposition was because of the amount of wealth the slave trade was creating for Europe, this made people believe that they needed the slave trade for financial stability. There were several important factors that caused the abolition to be a success, these factors include: The influence of William Wilberforce in the British Parliament, the impact of the abolitionist campaign on public opinion and lastly the impact of slave resistance and rebellion.
William Wilberforce was a key figure in the abolition of the slave trade as he represented the abolitionists in parliament and made their opinions known by the other MPs. A quote that supports Wilberforce being a key figure in the abolition of the slave trade is, “The chief spokesman for the abolition of slavery in Parliament, William Wilberforce was the best known advocate of the British abolition movement.” (Johannes Postma, The Atlantic Slave Trade, 2003).
Wilberforce introduced a large number of bills into parliament to try and get

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