History of slavery many years of lobbying by the abolitionist movement, led primarily by William Wilberforce, the British Parliament voted to make the slave trade illegal anywhere in the Empire with the Slave Trade Act 1807. Thereafter Britain took a prominent role in combating the trade, and slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Between 1808 and 1860, the West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard. Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade. Akitoye, the 11th Oba
Slavery in the British Virgin Islands to their ruined and insolvent estates. Realistically, from that point in time, the Territory was almost solely populated by the former slaves who then made up the vast bulk of the population. By 1893, a mere 40 years after the revolts, there were only two white people resident on Tortola - the deputy Governor and the island's doctor. Slavery in the British Virgin Islands In common with most Caribbean countries, slavery in the British Virgin Islands forms a major part of the history of the Territory. One commentator has gone so far as to say: "One of the most important