What's covered
Key facts
The British Empire reached its largest extent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
British ships transported roughly 3 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.
By 1900, around a quarter of the world's land area was part of the British Empire.
Enslaved Africans worked mainly on plantations growing sugar, tobacco and cotton.
Olaudah Equiano, a formerly enslaved African, wrote a famous 1789 autobiography that helped the abolition cause.
Enslaved Africans resisted in many ways: slowing work, sabotaging tools, and outright rebellion.
The late-19th-century race for European powers to claim African territory was known as the Scramble for Africa.
Olaudah Equiano was a formerly enslaved African who wrote a famous autobiography about his experience.
The 1807 Slave Trade Act abolished the trafficking of enslaved people in the British Empire, but not slavery itself.
Liverpool and Bristol were two English ports that grew wealthy from the slave trade.
Sample questions
A taste of the 29 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What did the 1807 Slave Trade Act abolish in the British Empire?
- •Slavery in Britain itself but not in the colonies
- •Slavery in the Caribbean but not in West Africa
- •Slavery throughout the British Empire entirely
- ✓The trafficking of enslaved people, not slavery itself
What were the three legs of the 'triangular trade'?
- •Africa → Britain → Africa (only two legs)
- •Africa → Britain → Spain → Africa
- ✓Britain → Africa → Americas → Britain
- •Britain → India → Caribbean → Britain
Which 1833 act finally abolished slavery itself across the British Empire?
- •Colonial Freedom Act
- •Emancipation of Slaves Act
- •Slave Trade Act
- ✓Slavery Abolition Act
Which crop drove the demand for enslaved labour in the Caribbean plantations?
- •Rubber trees
- ✓Sugar cane
- •Tea leaves
- •Wheat grain
What name was given to the late 19th-century race for European powers to claim Africa?
- •the African Enlightenment
- •the Congress of Africa
- ✓the Scramble for Africa
- •the Wind of Change
Which two English ports grew wealthy from the slave trade?
- ✓Liverpool and Bristol
- •Newcastle and Hull
- •Norwich and Cambridge
- •Plymouth and Portsmouth
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