slave trade

American  

noun

1. the business or process of capturing, transporting, and selling human beings into chattel slavery, especially Black Africans brought to the New World prior to the mid-19th century.

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slave trade British  

noun

1. the business of trading in slaves, esp the transportation of Black Africans to America from the 16th to 19th centuries

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slave trade Cultural  

1. The transportation of slaves from Africa to North and South America between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Congress banned the importing of slaves into the United States in 1808.

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Other Word Forms

• slave-trader noun
• slave-trading noun

Etymology

Origin of slave trade

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

The United Nations General Assembly this week overwhelmingly backed a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity".

From BBC

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday designated the transatlantic African slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity," despite opposition by the United States and some European countries.

From Barron's

Member states are set to vote on a resolution - led by Ghana - to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity".

From BBC

The interior minister said the event reflected growing international recognition of the injustices of the transatlantic slave trade and the need to rebuild connections.

From Barron's

For the abolitionists, Congress prohibited slavery in the new state of California and the slave trade was banned in the capital District of Columbia.

From Literature