International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade – March 25, 2025

History of International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade was the world’s largest forced migration and unquestionably one of the cruelest. Over 400 years, a massive exodus of Africans spread over the globe in a way that had never been seen before or recorded in human history. Between 1501 and 1830, a ratio of four to one African to European crossed the Atlantic, making the American population more of an extension of Africans than Europeans.

During the 16th century and up to the 19th century, approximately 15 to 20 million individuals were carried against their will from Africa to Central, South, North America, as well as Europe. The transatlantic slave trade was a profitable triangular commerce between Europe, the Americas, and West Africa. It provided the foundation for most of Britain’s prosperity. Slaves were traded as men, women, and children in various slave trading systems. During the travels, up to 2.4 million slaves died, with millions more dying soon after. Slaves were sold to serve as domestic servants, on plantations, mines, and rice fields.

Britain was the first country to establish legislation prohibiting the slave trade in 1807, and by 1815, the British had persuaded the Netherlands, Spain, France, and Portugal to follow suit. Slave trading was made illegal in the United States nearly five years later, in 1820, and was eventually abolished in 1865.