Reasons Attitudes to the Slave Trade Changed
History: KS3, topic 9.1.5
Reasons Attitudes to the Slave Trade Changed
By the end of the 1700s, attitudes to the slave trade began to change. Resistance to the slave trade increased by the end of the century.
Resistance in Africa
- By the end of the 18th century, leaders in Africa were refusing to sell slaves to British traders.
- Sometimes, African villages would attack British ships and free the slaves.
Slave rebellions
- Some slaves began to rebel on ships. This was called a ‘mutiny’.
- The most famous example was in 1839 on the Amistad. There were also slave rebellions on plantations.
- Toussaint L'Ouverture was a slave and led a rebellion in 1791 in the French colony, Saint Domingue (now Haiti).
Slaves running away
- Slaves were also running away from plantations.
- In Jamaica, slaves who ran away established ‘Maroon’ communities.
- In Britain, slaves also ran away.
- James Somerset is a famous example of a slave who ran away from his master.
Olaudah Equiano
- Olaudah Equiano was a slave captured as a child in Benin.
- He managed to buy his freedom from his owner in 1766. Many slave owners would not ever give slaves an opportunity to become a 'freedman'.
- Equiano worked with other abolitionists like Granville Sharp to help to abolish the slave trade and slavery.
Test yourself on Reasons Attitudes to the Slave Trade Changed
Who is a famous example of a slave who ran away from his master in Britain?