In the 1780s, French merchants developed a systemic trade in slaves to and around the Cape of Good Hope. But a decade later the trade passed into the hands of a cosmopolitan group of merchants at Mozambique. These men developed various strategies as a way of raising the funds needed to acquire, outfit and insure slave ships. They particularly built up trade links w...

In the 1770s the Cape became an important destination for slaves from East Africa. This trade ended in 1808 with the implementation of the Act of Abolition but was quickly replaced by the importation of freed slaves seized from ships going to South America, who were subjected to 14-year apprenticeships. International treaties aimed at suppressing the slave trade br...