been at least forty-six to fifty-three million. In fact, it was
about one-half of this.
This massive difference was not only due to about eight
million people being exported as slaves from this region
between 1700 and 1850, but the millions likely killed by
continual internal warfare aimed at capturing slaves.
Slavery and the slave trade in Africa further disrupted family
and marriage structures and may also have reduced
fertility.
Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a strong
movement to abolish the slave trade began to gain
momentum in Britain, led by the charismatic figure of
William Wilberforce. After repeated failures, in 1807 the
abolitionists persuaded the British Parliament to pass a bill
making the slave trade illegal. The United States followed
with a similar measure the next year. The British
government went further, though: it actively sought to
implement this measure by stationing naval squadrons in
the Atlantic to try to stamp out the slave trade. Though it
took some time for these measures to be truly effective,
and it was not until 1834 that slavery itself was abolished in
the British Empire, the days of the Atlantic slave trade, by
far the largest part of the trade, were numbered.
Though the end of the slave trade after 1807 did reduce
the external demand for slaves from Africa, this did not
mean that slavery’s impact on African societies and
institutions would magically melt away. Many African states
had become organized around slaving, and the British
putting an end to the trade did not change this reality.
Moreover, slavery had become much more prevalent within
Africa itself. These factors would ultimately shape the path
of development in Africa not only before but also after
1807.
In the place of slavery came “legitimate commerce,” a
phrase coined for the export from Africa of new
commodities not tied to the slave trade. These goods
included palm oil and kernels, peanuts, ivory, rubber, and
gum arabic. As European and North American incomes
expanded with the spread of the Industrial Revolution,
demand for many of these tropical products rose sharply.
Just as African societies took aggressive advantage of the
economic opportunities presented by the slave trade, they