1 - The West African trade in transition

Summary

At the start of the nineteenth century the trade in slaves remained the main export activity along much of the West African coast. Britain was the major trader in West African slaves in this period, transporting to the Americas more than two-thirds of the total in the 1790s. The decision of the British Parliament to abolish the trade by British nationals from 1807 therefore posed significant potential problems for African brokers and British traders alike. Moreover, the potential impact of British abolition was exacerbated by the fact that it coincided with other problems for West Africa's external trade. The Anglo-French wars of 1793–1815 caused much dislocation in the Atlantic trade. Privateering, embargoes, and blockades disrupted commerce on the coast and made investing for the future difficult.

This was, in addition, a time of great political instability for parts of the region. In 1806–7 the Asante invaded and conquered the Fante states of the Gold Coast during a period of tension that continued at least until 1830; these years were to see almost continuous clashes on the Gold Coast which were inevitably to affect the trade of the British forts. Not surprisingly, this unrest and instability meant that the Gold Coast's export trade fell into severe decline during the 1810s and large numbers of British traders on the coast went bankrupt.

Similarly, along the Windward Coast between modern Liberia and Senegal, the early years of the century were not ones of prosperity for the export trade. The Anglo-French wars affected the gum trade of Senegambia, for example. The hopes of economic regeneration associated with the settlement of Freetown after 1787 came to little as the town stumbled from one exigency to another.