Blockade of Africa

rdf:langString Blockade of Africa

rdf:langString Blockade of Africa

rdf:langString HMS Brisk capturing the Spanish slave ship Emanuela.

rdf:langString African slave traders

rdf:langString Sir George Collier

rdf:langString Matthew C. Perry

rdf:langString Commodore Bullen

rdf:langString Blockade of Africa

rdf:langString the Suppression of the Slave Trade

rdf:langString Africa, the Americas, West Indies, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea

rdf:langString Atlantic slave trade suppressed by 1865

rdf:langString USS Alligator

rdf:langString Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

rdf:langString USS Saratoga

rdf:langString USS Chesapeake

rdf:langString USS Constitution

rdf:langString USS Dolphin

rdf:langString USS Niagara

rdf:langString USS Somers

rdf:langString The Blockade of Africa began in 1808 after the United Kingdom outlawed the Atlantic slave trade, making it illegal for British ships to transport slaves. The Royal Navy immediately established a presence off Africa to enforce the ban, called the West Africa Squadron. Although the ban initially applied only to British ships, Britain negotiated treaties with other countries to give the Royal Navy the right to intercept and search their ships for slaves. The 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves abolished the intercontinental slave trade in the United States but the ban was not widely enforced. From 1819, some effort was made by the United States Navy to prevent the slave trade. This mostly consisted of patrols of the shores of the Americas and in the mid-Atlantic, the latter being largely unsuccessful due to the difficulty of intercepting ships mid-ocean. As part of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842, it was agreed that both countries would work together on the abolition of the slave trade, which was deemed piracy, and to continue the blockade of Africa. US Navy involvement continued until the beginning of the US Civil War in 1861; the following year the Lincoln administration gave the UK full authority to intercept US ships. Slavery was not abolished in the United States until 1865 when Congress ratified the 13th Amendment. The Royal Navy squadron remained in operation until 1870.