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 South Africa slaver with 500 Angolan slaves, and 250 were taken to the Cape. Two months later, a further 228 slaves arrived from Guinea. Britain invaded the Cape and later passed the Slave Trade Act 1807. It was enforced from 1808, ending the external slave trade. Slaves were permitted to be traded only within the colony. The first large wave of British settlers, the 1820 Settlers, were not permitted to own slaves. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent; this paved the way for the abolition of slavery within the British Empire and its colonies. On 1 August 1834, all