Exploration and Expansion

Brazil formally abolishes slavery

1888 BCE

Brazil formally abolishes slavery on May 13.

Caribbean smugglers

1861 BCE

During the American Civil War (1861–65) a Northern blockade of the Confederate states prevents Caribbean smugglers from importing enslaved Africans. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declares that the enslaved people in the Southern states are free. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution formally abolishes slavery in 1865. However, many former Confederate states continue to enact laws that keep Blacks subservient to whites.

Brazil outlaws the slave trade

1850 BCE

Brazil outlaws the slave trade. As slavery remains legal in the country, however, the smuggling of enslaved Africans into Brazil continues for several more decades.

The U.S. Navy seizes the Spanish slave ship

1839 BCE

The U.S. Navy seizes the Spanish slave ship Amistad off New York’s Long Island in 1839, and it is discovered that Africans on board have taken over the ship and have killed several members of its crew. Despite attempts by U.S. President Martin Van Buren to send the mutineers to Cuba, abolitionists demand a trial, contending the men are free under international law.

Spain signs a treaty with Britain

1817 BCE

Spain signs a treaty with Britain in 1817 agreeing to abolish the slave trade. The Spanish ban on the slave trade takes effect in 1820, although illegal smuggling of enslaved persons into Spanish colonial possessions subsequently occurs.

The U.S. Congress bans

1807 BCE

The U.S. Congress bans the importation of slaves into the country.

Great Britain

1806 BCE

Great Britain abolishes the slave trade with its colonies.

Largest number of enslaved Africans

1700 BCE

The largest numbers of enslaved Africans are taken to the Americas during this period, accounting for nearly three-fifths of the total volume of the transatlantic slave trade, according to historians’ estimates.

First Africans in America

1619 BCE

The first Africans in English America are brought to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. (They carried on a Portuguese slave ship sailing from Angola to Veracruz, Mexico. While the Portuguese ship was sailing through the West Indies, attacked by a Dutch man-of-war and an English ship out of Jamestown. The two attacking ships captured about 50 enslaved persons—men, women, and children—and brought them to outposts of Jamestown, where more than 20 of the African captives were purchased.)

Dutch, English, and French

1600 BCE

The Dutch, English, and French also establish colonies in the New World and become major participants in the transatlantic slave trade. A large percentage of their human cargo is taken from the region of West Africa between the Sénégal and Niger rivers. Demand for slave labor rises sharply with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake region of North America.

Spain and Portugal

1500 BCE

Spain and Portugal begin establishing colonies in the New World. Large parts of the Caribbean will be depopulated during the European conquest. Increasingly, captives will be shipped from Africa to replace the enslaved Indians.

Populate Portugal

1480 BCE

The islands off the coast of western Africa were largely populated with enslaved Black Africans. The Portuguese brought many African captives to Portugal.

Peak of Transatlantic slave trade

1780

The peak of the transatlantic slave trade is reached. On average some 78,000 enslaved people are brought to the Americas each year of this decade. About half the captives are transported from Africa in ships of British merchants. French and Portuguese traders also transport significant numbers of enslaved people.

Great Britain passes Slavery Abolition Act

1833

Great Britain passes the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. The law, which takes effect in 1834, abolishes slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa as well as a small number in Canada. The Slavery Abolition Act does not explicitly refer to British North America, however. Its aim is rather to dismantle the large-scale plantation slavery that exists in Britain’s tropical colonies.