Note to recorder:
Normal speed. Thank you!
In the United States, slavery began in 1619 when the first slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, on a Dutch ship.
In total, around 600,000 slaves were brought from the west coast of Africa to the American colonies by the British, the Dutch, the French, the Portuguese and the Spanish. Most slaves worked on tobacco and cotton plantations.
The Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, between slave states in the south and free states in the north. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that the slaves in the South were free. But not all of the slaves were set free immediately.
Slavery was abolished in 1865 when the 13th Amendment was added to the US Constitution.
Slaver voyages: France, 4,200; British North America/United States, 1,500.
Slaves transported: France 1,250,000, British North America/United States, 300,000.
Slaves delivered to: French West Indies: 1,600,000, British North America/United States, 500,000.*